Ten Signs You're In Love
by levi-nii-san
Summary: "You know, if I really allowed myself to love you, it would be such a burden to you." For a moment, Sakura considered punching him out right there. He honestly wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this going. Maybe if she wasn't so perfect, he wouldn't fall in love with her this hard. [SasuSaku] Post-699; Blank Period.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Ayeee, I'm back. I don't know how long I will be, but I'm back. This will be a re-write of my old "10 Signs You're Falling In Love", except it'll be multi-chapter and I'm half the embarrassment I was six years ago. I still don't own Naruto.

If you miss me, or think this story is at least mildly entertaining, send me some love! I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **1\. You can never stay mad at them. You actually have to try to stay angry.**

"So how much do you wanna bet Kakashi-sensei is gonna show up after we eat his food, and then complain about it again?" Naruto asked, referring to the last time they invited their sensei out to lunch. He showed up 30 minutes after they finished to see that all of his food had been eaten too. Needless to say, he was upset.

"Do we even still call him Kakashi-sensei? It's Hokage-sama now, right?"

"Well…I call my dad tou-chan, not Yondaime-sama."

"Oh yeah."

"I guess."

Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, and Naruto sat around the Leaf Village cafeteria, half way through their meal. An extra bento sat at the edge of the booth they occupied, waiting for the fifth member of the group.

"Isn't he busy?"

"With what? All the foreign affair crises he's been dealing with lately have been settled." Naruto said as a matter of fact. "I should know. I was in charge of it."

"Oh," Sakura took a mouth full of her food.

"Yeah, he's probably sitting in his office reading ero-sennin's old novels right now."

"How many times can he re-read the same erotic novel before getting desensitized?"

Naruto shrugged noncholantly. "As if I know, I've never stuck my nose in those nasty books."

"Hmph," Sakura scoffed from across the table. "I'd like to believe that!"

"It's true!" He complained, "Ne, Sakura-chan, why are you _still_ so mean?"

"Eighteen times," Sai answered instead, earning a look from his female teammate and a nod of approval from the blond. "He should continue it. It's a good series."

"Kakashi-sensei does not need to be any more perverted than he already is."

As if on cue, there was a poof beside him. "Sorry I'm late, I didn't want to come." Kakashi brushes off the dirt on his cloak as he takes a seat. He laughs and mumbles "Relax, I'm kidding."

"How are you, sensei?" Sakura piped up cheerfully.

"Good, good," Kakashi lowered his mask to eat. "Been busy, _not_ reading erotic fiction." Sakura averted her gaze to the floor and Naruto was suddenly very fascinated with his half eaten bento. Sasuke grunted in amusement.

"So, Sasuke, how's house hunting going?"

"Hn, fine, I guess." He flushed a little bit when everyone's curious gaze turned to him. He wasn't used to the attention. Sasuke was more of a spectator in their conversations. Although he would never admit that he did enjoy being part of these gatherings, he secretly just found comfort in listening to them talk about their interesting lives. "There's a decent place by the dango shop."

"Isn't that far?" Naruto asked.

"From?"

"Me, who else?" he joked. "What if you wanna hang out or something? Crash at my place. It'll be on the other side of the village, 'ttebayo!"

Sasuke sighed and tried not to smile. "I think I'll live."

"Suit yourself."

"So you're moving over there?" Sakura asked quietly, also secretly lamenting over the fact that it was on the other side of the village from her own apartment.

"I don't know yet," he brushed it off, truly unsure. In reality, he was still considering moving back to the Uchiha compound to save money, even if that meant getting triggered every night. It was either that, or room with one of his team mates, but he decided against being a burden to his friends and starting up rumors if he lived with Sakura.

"Is the village treating you well?" Kakashi asked sincerely.

This week marked six months since Sasuke had returned to Konoha for good. Although he was uneasy at first, Sasuke was beginning to get used to life in the village again. Most of the villagers grew to look at Sasuke with respect and admiration again, and the ones he did know were slowly adjusting to life with the Uchiha once more. The only person he harbored much tension with was none other than Sakura.

It was spring time, and Sakura was the first one to turn 21 out of all of them. He hadn't seen her since he told her he would be back. Sakura didn't know what she expected, to be honest. So when he returned, although a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders, they never got to talk about their relationship. She seemed rather playful and happy around him when others were also present. But when they were alone together, things got pretty awkward. Sasuke concluded it's because she was afraid of getting close to him again; Kakashi argued it was because of all the sexual tension.

"Is it just like old times yet?"

"Are girls fawning over you again?"

"Hn," Sasuke scoffed. "Nope. I'm glad, too. That was annoying." Sakura cringed at the last part.

"You reject all those girls? Don't you need a date to the festival comi-?"

"You don't _need_ a date to the festival." Sakura cut him off, annoyed.

"That's because I already have one!" Naruto elbowed her and laughed, enjoying Sakura's irritated grunts.

"When is the festival anyway?" Sai asked.

"It's in three days."

"Good news though, Sakura-chan, I have enough money to spoil you this time." Naruto claims, half joking.

Sakura threw her head back in laughter, "So you learned your lesson after all." She poked at his nose.

"You're going with Naruto?" Sasuke spoke up, slightly uncomfortable at their behavior. He didn't know they had gotten _this_ close. He suddenly wished he didn't speak though when Sakura turned to him, surprised, and Kakashi hid his smug smile in his mask.

"Yeah, it's tradition," The blond answered for her. "Ever since the first time I took Sakura-chan on a date to the festival something like six years ago, we've been going together." He leaned over to Sakura, a large grin on his face and he added, "and she totally fell in love with me that night." Part of Naruto was amused at how he could hear Sakura growling threateningly. The other part of him was doing it more for the fact that he could feel Sasuke's glare boring holes into his head. Sasuke wasn't being very subtle either. He wouldn't be surprised if he looked over to his best friend and was met with the Sharingan.

"Don't you mean: ever since the first time you dragged me to the festival with your sob stories on how lonely it would have been to go alone?" Sakura joked, pushing his face away.

"Hey, you had fun!"

"Yeah, yeah, I did." Sakura laughed.

Sai frowned then. "Wait, what about Hinata?"

"Hm? Oh Hinata will be there, but she has clan business to attend to." Naruto said slowly, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "That's actually why I wanted to see all of you today." He turned a little red and hesitated. "She has clan business involving _me_."

Sakura gave him a 'What did you do now?' look. Naruto chuckled, "Hinata and I are engaged."

There was a second of silence before Sakura began to suffocate Naruto in a hug, squealing something that sounded like "Oh my God, no way! Since when? How did you propose? I love you two so much!" all in one sentence.

The rest of the conversation was history to Sasuke.

Sasuke congratulated him, inwardly frowning. He was trying not to let his previous issue to get to him. Sakura was Naruto's best friend, too. He also had the same right to spend time with her. And Naruto said it himself: they had made it a tradition to go on a date every festival. There was nothing bad about that, right?

Then Sasuke wondered why he should even be angry in the first place. It's not like he asked Sakura to go with him first. And it's not like he was going to either, even if he wanted to. But as much as the mighty Uchiha Sasuke was not afraid of failure in any other situation, he was most definitely afraid of Sakura's rejection. A large part of him still believed he was very much unworthy of her love and company, which is why he felt like she was choosing Naruto over him.

Furthermore, Sasuke wasn't afraid they were going to watch the fireworks, gaze into each other's eyes, and fall in love on the spot. He was very aware Naruto was dedicated to his now fiancé, Hinata, who wasn't even worried her soon-to-be husband was going on a date with one of his best friends. So why should Sasuke be? He was also very confident that Sakura's heart was his and only his. Whether or not she had been showing it lately, he had no reason to believe her love for him was about to falter, especially after her last confession. Right?

Still, nobody could blame him for wanting to spend time with her instead. He hadn't seen her in months since he turned over a new leaf. He missed her, and if he was going to be completely honest, a lot of his time alone was spent wondering how his future would be now that Sakura was back in it.

But right now, the issue was the fact that she was going to spend time with the blond – time that could and _should_ be spent with him instead.

"Right, Sasuke?" he heard Naruto's voice again, and realized how detached he had been from the group since he got lost in his thoughts. "Sasuke?"

"What?"

When Naruto repeated himself and asked for his confirmation again, Sasuke just shrugged, diverting everyone's attention back to the chatty blond. In his own little corner, Sasuke was pouting.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered for only him to hear. He looked down at her at an angle. She was looking up at him, concerned. "Are you okay?"

For a moment Sasuke considered telling her what was on his mind.

"Yeah," he decided against it for now. "I'm fine."

* * *

Sasuke sat in his empty apartment, hands folded under his chin. His eyebrows knitted together in a slight frown. The festival had started about an hour ago and here he was sulking like a small child. It had been on his mind for the last three days, keeping him from getting anything accomplished.

He wondered what they were doing at this very moment. Naruto was probably complimenting her on how drop-dead gorgeous she looked right now. Just like he used to when they were younger (little did he know, Naruto was actually complaining how she had drained his week's earnings, to which Sakura rolls her eyes and treats him instead).

Sasuke grunted and stood up from his seat. 'Focus, you're supposed to be upset!' he inwardly told himself, 'not thinking about how beautiful she probably looks right now…' He unconsciously walked toward his closet where he kept an old kimono that belonged to his brother that he salvaged from the Uchiha compound. It was clean and ready to use, tempting him.

Then some more questions ran through his mind:

What if Naruto ran out of money to pay for the things she wanted?

What if Sakura was actually having a horrible time because he wasn't there with her?

What if Naruto does run into Hinata, leaving Sakura alone?

What if some nasty old man starts making a move on Sakura and Naruto can't protect her virtues?!

What if, what if, what if? His thoughts suffocated him.

To be honest, he was quite upset that Naruto had borrowed what was his, without asking first. At least, that's how Sasuke saw it. But to be even more honest, Sasuke was more irritated that Sakura agreed to go with Naruto, when he was sitting right there in front of them.

Without another thought, he pulled the kimono off the rack. Sakura was right anyway: you didn't need a date to enjoy a celebration like such. And besides, he reasoned, he was not a child (despite the sulking he was just doing). He might as well go celebrate with everyone. That's why he was back, right? To live a normal life again.

And _if_ he runs into her, he told himself as he slipped his one arm though the kimono, he'll give her a piece of his mind.

* * *

Now, Sasuke was not a man of many words. When he told himself he was going to give her a piece of his mind he meant he was probably just going to tell her, "You should have come here with me instead", and anything she said after that would be dismissed with a "You're annoying".

He strolled casually around the large festival grounds, both keeping an eye out for a pink head of hair, but also reminding himself he would be as stoic and passively angry as possible. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure why he really needed to get this message across. He just really wanted to see her tonight.

He walked around, repeating his goal in his head to make sure he stayed upset.

The longer he walked, the faster his heart seemed to beat. It was a mixture of anger and a little bit of pain, which was annoying because Sasuke was not used to this sinking feeling in his chest and stomach. After what seemed like an hour, he finally found her, just standing in the middle of a crowd that was watching a very enthusiastic Lee challenge Chouji to an eating contest. Sasuke scoffed at the ridiculousness of the two men and also wondered why Sakura was not the center of attention instead.

She looked heavenly, just like he had imagined. She was dressed in a white and pink silk kimono, her hair half pinned back. Her baggy clothing concealed all her womanly features, but he knew they were there. She stood tall and gracefully, smiling affectionately at the boys. She looked nothing like the savage who punched out Kaguya a few years ago. Sasuke was suddenly aware of the butterflies in his stomach. He took a deep breath and approached her.

"Sasuke-kun!" she seemed pleasantly surprised at his presence. She held herself back from hugging him, despite the sudden strong urge to do so. Instead, he was greeted with a genuine smile. But after watching him just stare at her, her face fell slightly. "Sasuke-kun?"

"Sorry," he looked away, a shade of red tinting his cheeks. "You look very pretty." He added quietly. Although he wasn't looking at her, he sensed her smile grow tenfold. Sakura felt her ears heat up.

"Thank you, that's sweet." She then elbowed him playfully. "It's been a while since I've heard a compliment from you."

"Hn," he turned his whole head to keep her from seeing his tainted cheeks. "Where's Naruto?"

"With Hinata." She replied simply. Ah, he knew it! "Don't worry," she reassured him when she saw his frown. "I let him go."

"Kakashi?"

"Gambling." Of course.

"Sai?"

"Oh, I don't know." Sakura pondered, a glint in her eyes. "With Ino I think. He came here with us but she stole him away sometime after Shikamaru ran off with Temari."

"Aa." Sasuke really didn't care about the rest of that, but she seemed to enjoy talking about her friends, even if they all pretty much left her alone.

"So have you been having fun? Relaxing? When was the last time you went to a festival?"

"When I was a little boy. And no, I actually haven't been here very long."

"Hmm," She pondered, and then giggled. "Debating on whether or not you wanted to mingle with this many people tonight?"

"Yes and no. But I figured I do need to get out more." She laughed again at his comment. "And there's free food."

Sakura looked at him, perplexed. "The food isn't free."

"It's free if you're this attractive."

"Ah," she played along and laughed, encouraged by the small smile he was hiding and the soft chuckle he let escape his throat. "I thought you were above that, Sasuke-kun."

The sound of her laugh and the way his name rolled off her tongue made him completely forget about everything he had been angry about a few hours earlier. She seemed genuinely excited and at peace to be here with him right now. And although Sasuke wouldn't admit it, there was no place he would rather be.

"It's a resource." He answered.

She giggled again, her chest feeling lighter after the tension lessened. She was extremely relieved to know he wasn't upset…anymore at least. Sakura felt comforted by his presence. Even though she was having a good time with Naruto and occasionally mingling with other friends, nothing quite matched just being here with Sasuke.

It felt so surreal to her. The Uchiha Sasuke, the man she loved who had been missing for a large chunk of her life, was standing beside her, talking to her as if they were friends. If felt like old times, only better because his aura seemed much brighter. She really did like this new redeemed Sasuke. He was still the same, quiet, gentle heart, but she could definitely see how much he had grown. Despite knowing their relationship was full of tension, Sakura smiled at the idea that they had a lot to improve on, and this might have been the beginning of it.

Suddenly a loud "YOSSSHHH!" was heard as Lee emerged, his face was full of food and crumbs. He ripped off the bib he wore to dance around and gloat about he had beaten Chouji, of all people, in an eating contest. He left his opponent behind, who was too busy sulking, quietly mumbling, "I…I wasn't fast enough…"

With a deep breath, Sakura decided to bring up the issue.

"Ne, are you okay Sasuke-kun? You've seemed pretty aggravated this week."

"Aa. I'm okay," he said smoothly. He wasn't lying. For some reason, as soon as he saw her, he couldn't channel any more anger towards her.

"Mmm, alright," she agreed once she sensed how relaxed he actually was. Whatever it was, she concluded, it couldn't have been that important. Then she was in front of him. "Hey, you want to go play some games? Walk around? Are you hungry?"

Sasuke looked at her excited little bounce and felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter again at the thought of being alone with her. Forget Naruto; she obviously already had for the night. Sasuke looked around. He could have sworn there weren't as many people here as when he just arrived.

"On my way here I found a nice spot to watch the fireworks." He suggested shyly, and watched as her eyes widened and her face turned a bright shade of red. She shrunk into her already small form and suddenly Sasuke wanted to just pick her up and take her away with him.

"Sure," she finally answered, wearing the biggest smile he had ever seen on her, "I would love that."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So I try to follow the canon story as much as possible, but my timing here is a little different. I hope it makes sense anyway lol. Please don't hesitate to give me feedback! I love hearing what you guys have to say about it. After all, this is all for you! It keeps me going (:

* * *

 **2\. You'll walk really slowly when you're with them**

The slow ticking of the clock made Sasuke a little uneasy. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was sitting in the hospital room he never thought he would set foot in again. He watched as Ino scribbled away on a clipboard.

"So, you're not going to confine me here?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. Ino looked at him funny.

"No, silly, why would we do that?"

"Hn," he shrugged. "Hospital procedures?"

"Nope. We need you to relax as much as possible." She was focused on the clipboard again. Sasuke found this slightly ironic. "In fact, your prescription is to take daily walks."

"Take…walks?" The idea seemed a little obscure to Sasuke. He never really tried finding comfort in taking walks. It just seemed like a waste of time to someone who was always so busy.

"Yup, every day." She repeated, this time not taking her eyes off of what she was writing.

"Ah," he looked down and flexed his new arm. "I see…"

Ino saw right through him. "Do I need to put you on a leash and walk you myself?" she set the papers down and poked at him, earning a grunt.

"I don't see how it relates to my arm."

"It's supposed to help you psychologically and relax your body enough for this to work," She lifted his arm and moved it around. "If you're stressed, your body will reject the new arm and you can get fatally sick. Your whole body can shut down."

"I can relax in other ways."

"Oh yeah?" Ino challenged him. She had become an expert at dealing with stubborn patients ever since she started working with Sakura in the hospital. "Name one."

"Training with Naruto." Sasuke said easily.

"Which you can't do yet," she finished for him. "Not for a few months, and maybe even longer if you're going to be stubborn about it. Naruto had to wait too. He hated it, but he waited."

Sasuke grunted. "Missions. Low-ranked missions."

"Which you also can't do yet, seeing as your probation still has a couple months to go. You may have been pardoned because of Kakashi-sensei and Naruto, but you're still being watched."

His frown increased tenfold, "Fine. I'll take walks."

Ino reached into the cabinet behind her and handed him a bottle of pain killers. "Here, take these when the pain becomes unbearable. I'm talking about physical pain though, not this whining you're doing right now." Sasuke scoffed.

"What if something happens to me while I'm alone?"

"Like what?"

"You said it yourself," he answered. "My body could reject it and it could shut down."

"You live four minutes from the hospital." Ino chuckled "The effects wouldn't be immediate. Besides, is the great Uchiha Sasuke really afraid of a prosthetic arm?" Sasuke was quiet after that.

"Can I request company?" He asked a few minutes later. Ino looked up at him; this was the first time he caught her by surprise and she didn't have anything to say to.

"Huh?"

"Company. It will help me relax."

The last thing Ino expected to hear was a request for company. Call her crazy, but she thought Sasuke, of all people, found the most comfort in being alone. "Yeah, sure, sure." Then again, she mused, he has been alone his whole life; perhaps he needs company nowadays.

"We don't have any psychologists available this week," she flipped a page on the clipboard and her eyebrows met. "Will a nurse suffice?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, when the door opened very slightly. A blob of pink poked through the small opening. "Ino, I need you out at the front desk whenever you're available."

"Yes ma'am," she saluted.

"Thanks, lovely," Sakura smiled and waved to him before leaving, "Hi Sasuke-kun."

When Ino turned her attention back to her patient, he seemed more awake than he was five minutes ago. He wasn't scowling so much anymore. His eyes remained where her head was in the door. When it all clicked in her head, Ino wondered how oblivious Sakura had to be to miss this. It was right in front of her face!

A few seconds after Sakura left, the corners of Ino's lips turned up in the biggest, creepiest grin he had ever seen on her. "Sakura?" Ino asked, trying her hardest to suppress a giggle. Sasuke was being very adorable today. "You want Sakura." It was more of a confirmation than a question.

"It would…help." He admitted. There was no use in denying it at this point.

"I said nurses were available, not the head doctor." She laughed and watched as his expression changed again. "I'll see what I can do."

"So, Sasuke-kun thinks you're the solution to all his problems." Ino stated on her way back to the front desk. Sakura looked at her funny.

* * *

"What?" She wasn't sure what else to say since the only thing echoing in her head at the moment was 'My sins have nothing to do with you.' How could she be the solutions to the problems unrelated to her?

"I told him he needs to take walks and he said it simply cannot be done without you." Ino explained, feigning a dramatic sigh.

"You're exaggerating." If this was a joke, Sakura pouted, it was mean.

"Nope. Go ask him yourself." Sakura eyed her best friend skeptically and made her way to Sasuke's room. Little did she know, Ino had only stretched the truth by an inch.

* * *

For the next four weeks, Sasuke continued his daily therapy walks with Sakura. If she wasn't available, then he would wait or walk by himself.

"So," sometimes, to Sakura's surprise, Sasuke would start the conversations. Although he generally avoided talking about himself, he was quite curious as to what her life was like when he was gone. Part of him wanted to hear about all the happy stories she had with Sai and Naruto and Kakashi, hoping he could have trusted these men to take care of her while he was gone. But the other part of him wanted to hear about how miserable she was without him, and how much happier she is now that he's back.

In reality, he got a mix of both.

"When did Naruto start noticing the Hyuuga anyway?"

"Hinata?" Sakura's eyes lit up at Sasuke's sudden curiosity regarding their third musketeer's love life. Sasuke grunted in confirmation. She thought back to the stories the three of them had shared. "Well he first noticed her strength when she defended him in his fight with Pein. When the war was over, he wouldn't stop talking about her."

"She doesn't faint around him anymore?"

"Oh you'd be surprised at how much Hinata has grown!" Sakura boasted. "In fact Naruto's the one who gets all nervous and sticks his foot in his mouth all the time."

"Doesn't he do that regardless?" Sakura was enjoying how chatty Sasuke was being today. It wasn't always like this.

"Only when he's talking to me." She bragged. Sasuke scoffed. "It's really cute, actually. He's so in love with her, you can see it from a mile away. I just wish he had noticed earlier."

Sasuke looked down at her wistful expression. "There's a time and place for everything." He told her, and when she looked taken aback, he shifted his gaze elsewhere.

"Yeah…" Was he trying to imply something? Sakura blushed and decided not to read too deep into his words.

"What else has changed since I left?" Sasuke broke the silence.

"Well I can kick ass now." She said smugly.

"I noticed," Sasuke's voice went a little deeper than usual, sending chills down Sakura's spine. He shoved his hands in his pocket, feeling more and more lighthearted and teasing with her. "I remember the first time-"

"We don't talk about that," Sakura blushed. Sasuke chuckled. "I think I'm more proud of you though, Sasuke-kun." She added, her tone becoming more serious once again.

"Why?" Sasuke's brows came together at this.

"You've come a long way. It must have taken a lot to get to where you are now. I admire that."

And just like that, sometimes their entire conversation would end, and they would just keep walking for another half hour until she had to get back to work. Sometimes the things Sakura said just got to him in such a way that would leave him speechless for the rest of the time, deep in thought.

On the days that he didn't feel like talking, Sakura would go on and on and occasionally encourage him to add some input. She mostly told stories about everyone and what they have been doing with their lives since he left nine years ago. Sometimes, for this reason, she felt like he was living in the past: she felt that he was so depressed about missing all of this that he just always wanted to hear about it.

"I really wish you had met Sai when he first joined Team Kakashi." Sakura said one day. They sat on a bench in the empty park.

"If he was anything like me, no thank you."

"Well," she pondered quite humorously. "He was really bad with people too so…"

"Funny," Sasuke closed his eyes.

"It _was_ funny though, and he made a huge effort to understand social situations. He's a good kid." Sakura concluded. "Our friendship had a rough start. He was talking smack about you so I punched him into next week." She explained with hand motions. Sasuke found this annoyingly adorable, just like almost everything else she did.

"He was a good replacement, huh?"

"That's not what he was, Sasuke-kun." Sakura's expression suddenly turned serious.

"Right."

"Well," she shifted her tone to slightly more aggressive. "Maybe he filled in the gap that our team needed…but he never filled the spot you held in my heart. Or in Naruto and Kakashi-sensei's."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "We love you, Sasuke-kun." And just like that, she felt him relax.

With each day they spent taking an hour walk alone, they became more comfortable with each other. Sasuke would be constantly annoyed at how he had to keep himself from smiling and being too obvious when she was doing something he found cute. Perhaps they weren't quite _that_ close, but they were past the point of acquaintances again.

Sakura also discovered that sometimes the tension would be alleviated immensely at her touch, something she did not expect at all. So she used that, knowing she had to do everything it took to make him feel comfortable and relaxed. What she didn't know, was it was also a little frustrating for Sasuke, who was trying to repress his feelings.

* * *

"Thank you, Sakura."

"Hmm? What for?"

"I know you're busy."

She chuckled lightly, "Well, it is my job." He raised an eyebrow at her and she reached up to poke his nose. "And you're one of my best friends; of course I would make time for you."

He didn't say anything after that, and Sakura grew concerned. "What's wrong?"

"It feels…selfish."

Sakura took a deep breath. "It's okay to be a little selfish sometimes."

"How should you know? You're one of the most selfless people I know." He let those words slip before he could think about it. He looked down at her and she had turned a bright shade of red.

"You don't know that, Sasuke-kun."

He didn't feel like saying anything after that, though he contemplated aggressively telling her how selfless she had been for him his whole life. But he figured he already embarrassed himself and revealed too much for today.

* * *

On days when Sasuke would walk alone, he found himself walking way faster than usual. He would circle the entire village in less than two hours, when he would barely make half a lap with Sakura's company. He felt like he was going back to his fast paced life where he never relaxed, and it scared him. But at the same time, he didn't want to admit that he needed her _this_ much.

So these lonely walks only became stressful.

He was frowning the next time she accompanied him. "Is something bothering you?"

"These walks are stressful. I don't see how they help." Although Sakura figured he might have just been stressed lately, she still couldn't afford him to regress at all. That, and it pained her to see him hurting like this, especially since she didn't know the cause this time.

"I thought they _have_ been helpful." She wondered. "You seem to enjoy my company sometimes."

His face suddenly softened and he realized how ungrateful he just sounded. "I'm sorry." He said easily.

At first, apologizing was a very difficult task for Sasuke. But he had gotten used to it, especially for Sakura. He would even apologize for little things like bumping into her or accidentally stepping on her foot. At some point he felt like he needed to always apologize to her, not just for the little things, but for everything. "You're right, I've just been stressed."

"Nah, don't worry." She slipped an arm through his and he seemed to forget everything that previously angered him. "I'm here."

Sakura smiled to herself in victory. She was getting much better at handling Sasuke.

* * *

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, why are you walking so slowly?" she asked him one day.

Sasuke suddenly became flustered and annoyed. His attitude shifted into defensive mode, "maybe _you're_ walking too fast…"

Embarrassed, Sakura returned her gaze in front of her and slowed her pace to match his. Beside her, Sasuke had turned a bright shade of red and was now frowning. Not only was it embarrassing to have to answer a question about himself he didn't even know the answer to, but now she looked hurt.

In a desperate attempt to ease the awkward atmosphere, Sakura gestured to the small park in front of them, empty because most of the kids were in class. "Follow me!" she led him to the swings, forced him to sit, and slowly began pushing him.

"Relaxing, right?"

"You're going to make me nauseous."

"No, it's relaxing," she insisted.

"Tch," Sasuke scoffed, hiding a small laugh at how childish she just sounded. "Annoying."

"So…I've been talking a lot about myself and Konoha. What about you?" Sakura asked boldly. She knew he didn't talk much about himself, but it was worth a shot.

"What about me?" he suddenly sounded distant.

"You know, how you've been since we last really talked…" her voice grew quiet toward the end of her sentence. She knew he would shoot her down, and she thought back to when Naruto had shared his entire past with Hinata.

"I…I don't really want to talk about it, Sakura."

She also knew she shouldn't have pushed it, but she really did want to help him. And there was no way she could help if he wouldn't talk. He had done such a great job of being pretty sociable for the last few weeks. Maybe these walks kept him distracted but it seemed like that's all it did for him.

"Why not?"

He seemed annoyed, rephrasing his explanation. "I don't _like_ to talk about it."

She stopped pushing him for a minute and walked in front of him. She took a deep breath. She had been successful in getting into his head a lot lately, she figured. He must be taking what she said to heart. This shouldn't be any different.

Nervously, she reached for his face and gently cupped his cheeks. She felt him relax. "Your past doesn't define you, Sasuke-kun."

For a moment, Sasuke couldn't breathe. She was so close, so gentle, so loving. She reminded him so much of his mother and the love she always provided for him as a child. Much to Sakura's surprise, he pulled her in for a hug, for the very first time in her life.

"Thank you, Sakura."

When he let go, she pulled away and grinned largely. "Let's talk about your future instead."

"My future?"

"Yeah, yeah," she sat down on the swing next to him. "Like, how many kids do you want? You're supposed to repopulate your clan, right?" She was half joking, but she heard him cough, caught off guard. When he regained his composure, he still hesitated.

"I don't know, five?"

It was Sakura's turn to choke on her own spit.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you sooo much for your support so far! It really does motivate me to keep writing! I hope you enjoy torturing Sasuke as much as I do.

* * *

 **3\. You'll feel shy whenever you're with them**

It had been a little over two months since Sasuke received his new arm. His daily walks had been reduced to weekly, and he was starting to feel comfortable taking them on his own. When he was alone, it reminded him of his journey to redemption. When he was with her, it gave him hope for the future.

His relationship had also taken an unexpected, but pleasant, turn with Sakura since they had been spending so much time together on those walks. And since she is still as busy as ever, Sasuke would make random excuses just to go see her.

("I fractured my ankle."

"You're walking just fine, Sasuke, go home."

"The Hokage needs Sakura; it's urgent."

"He would have come here himself."

"I need to see Sakura."

"Why, what for?"

"I just do."

Ino narrowed her eyes. "You're impossible.")

From fake injuries, to being a messenger: if it meant seeing her, he was on it. Though he would never admit it, her presence was one of the most relaxing things to him since he returned.

In her absence, Sasuke also decided that he should spend more time with Naruto, especially since he was getting married soon. Sooner or later, and he concluded this from Naruto's submissive behavior towards women, he would be whipped, and would see less and less of his best friend.

Of course, when Sakura heard about his views on their relationship one day, he almost got the Uchiha punched out of him.

The two sat at Ichiraku's one Wednesday morning. Sasuke noticed that Naruto had only downed two bowls, at most. This was an odd sight, even if he hadn't even been to this stand with him in ages.

"Don't you usually eat more?"

"Yeah, but I'm watching what I eat." He patted his belly.

"Why?"

"I was…I was told to." Naruto's tone held slight embarrassment.

"Hah," Sasuke scoffed and turned back to his food.

"What?!" Naruto turned completely toward him. "What's so funny, huh?"

"You're whipped," he concluded boldly, since Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!" Naruto threatened him, pointing his pair of chopsticks directly between Sasuke's eyes. "First of all, it was _Sakura-chan_ who forced me on some diet. She said something about watching my carb and sodium intake to be able to maintain better chakra." His scowl increased tenfold when Sasuke just scoffed again. "Second, I am not whipped just because I respect my girlfriend, who does _not_ control what I eat by the way."

"Alright, alright, relax." Sasuke waved a hand to dismiss his best friend's sudden outburst. "No need to get that defensive."

"Like you would know," Naruto muttered under his breath. "I oughta teach you some respect like old times. Nobody badmouths my girl."

"I didn't even say anything about Hinata."

"I'll kick your ass anyway."

Sasuke sighed with ease and set his chopsticks down. "Do you want to fight me?"

There was a spark in Naruto's eyes for a moment, but then he hesitated and rested a hand on his stomach, "No, I just ate." To which Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Speaking of Sakura-chan, how is she?"

"Hm?" Sasuke looked over to his best friend, mouth full of noodles. "Don't you talk to her?"

Naruto snickered smugly. "Not nearly as much as you do these days, heheh."

"Hn," Sasuke's cheeks felt hot. He blamed it on the heat coming from his food, and buried his face into more noodles. At this, he heard Naruto's teasing become louder and more confident.

"Hey come on, I'm your best friend, you can tell me what's going on between you and Sakura- _chaaaan_." Naruto grinned, adding emphasis on the suffix and elbowing Sasuke's ribs. The silence only fed his confidence.

"I'm eating, stop that."

" _You_ stop that!" Naruto's laugh echoed down the street. "Now tell me, teme."

"Tell you what?"

"You like her." He accused with ease.

Sasuke frowned. "Of course I like her. We're friends."

"Fine," he relented and picked up his chopsticks once more. But just when Sasuke thought he had won this argument, he grinned, "You _love_ our Sakura-chan."

Sasuke's frown deepend. How did he figure it out? Was he that obvious when they were together? Were there rumors going around that someone started? Maybe he learned a new mind-reading jutsu? "Who told you?"

"You did, just now!" Sasuke's following silence was only confirmation. Naruto's laughter finally died down after a while, and he suddenly adapted a somber tone. "Take care of her, please. She's suffered enough, you know."

Just like that, Sasuke's heart dropped to his stomach. He shifted uneasily and looked up at his friend's sincere expression. Sakura had so many people who loved her dearly. She had so many men who would undoubtedly treat her right- so many who could pamper her as if she was royalty, and make sure she would never shed another tear. It was true: she had suffered so much, for him. Kakashi's words echoed in his head.

When he imagined her face wet with tears, Sasuke's appetite vanished. He felt sick to his stomach knowing he had ignored all the times that she felt pain for him, and it felt even worse to know she would keep doing that, _for him_. Naruto seemed to sense the way he tensed beside him.

"Sakura deserves better," Sasuke finally voiced his thoughts, setting his utensils down.

Naruto frowned, "You've always been really dense when it comes to relationships with people, huh?" Sasuke glared. Now was not the time to make fun of him. "Could anyone else make her as happy as you can?"

"I don't make her happy," Sasuke countered with ease. "All I do is hurt her and make her cry."

"That's because you've never actually _tried_ to make her happy," Naruto answered, just as easily. "I promise you, if she was able to find a reason to smile even when you were gone, imagine how she would feel when you show her you'll always be there."

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto's serious gaze, who seems to have believed he won this argument. He seemed so satisfied with himself, so he repeated, "Just take care of her, Sasuke."

He nodded. "Of course."

As if on cue, Sasuke spotted a blur of pink in his peripherals. Before he could turn to see if it was Sakura, she was on the other side, between them two. "How are my two favorite dorks doing?"

Naruto grinned cheekily. "Great! We were just talking about you!"

"Ehh? What about me?"

Naruto shrugged and put on a seemingly innocent smile, "What about her again, Sasuke?" He looked over to Sasuke, who was very concentrated on his bowl of ramen. His cheeks were slightly tinted with pink and Naruto had to bite his lip to keep from laughing when his best friend looked a little like Hinata.

Sakura rolled her eyes at his teasing. "Boys.." she ruffled Naruto's hair and set a hand softly on Sasuke's shoulder. "Well I gotta get going, I just passed by and thought I'd say hi."

Naruto smiled and returned to his food when Sasuke seemed to relax. Smugly, he pushed his luck: "So, you're paying right?"

* * *

Upon arriving at the hospital one day to see Sakura busier than usual, Sauske's mind drifted to how talented she must be to carry on all of these responsibilities. The entire village- no, the entire _ninja world_ looked up to and trusted Haruno Sakura. If she wasn't bound to Konoha, no doubt she would travel the world and spread her knowledge of medicine. So along with this newfound admiration came a nagging curiosity.

He stopped by the hospital again the next day to acquire some medical scrolls. Sakura wasn't the only medical nin, he thought, so could it really be that hard?

After a few nights of extreme confusion and complete frustration at his inability to focus enough chakra to even heal a small wound, Sasuke decided maybe he should return them. Frustration wasn't new to him. He faced it many times before, attempting a new ninjutsu, but that was nothing compared to reading these scrolls that seemed to be in another language.

He remembered she had a day off the next day. He could have easily just dropped them off at the hospital, he knew. But he hadn't seen her this whole week. So after he finished everything he needed to do for the day, he headed over to her apartment.

It almost seemed natural to walk towards Sakura's place nowadays. In fact, sometimes he felt like he practically lived there with how much he visited. But, of course, with utmost respect for her virtues and reputation, Sasuke never stayed at her place past midnight.

Halfway into the trip to Sakura's apartment, a couple raindrops fell, causing him to groan and pick up his pace. When she opened the door, the first thing Sasuke noticed was what she was wearing. Or rather, what she wasn't wearing. Sakura had on a red tank top and some small shorts. He assumed these were her pajamas.

"Hey," she greeted cheerfully. She began to blush when she realized he was looking at her differently. His eyes travelled up and down before he snapped himself out of it and made eye contact.

"Do you always answer the door dressed like that?" he blurted out.

"No, dad." She looked at him funny. "I knew it was you."

Sasuke wasn't sure if he should have felt flattered or insulted at that. She seemed very comfortable with him, even if he felt like he didn't deserve this kind of trust from her. His heart started racing as he realized how short she really was. He had grown significantly since they were sixteen; so he had to look down to make eye contact, which also gave him a wonderful view of what her top was barely covering. She really had grown.

For the first time in his life, Sasuke realized exactly what he had been missing out on for years. His face only turned three shades darker, and he couldn't bring himself to say anything after that.

She invited him in, but he barely moved from his spot outside. "Are you okay? You can come in. It's raining pretty hard."

To be honest, Sasuke only expected to hand these scrolls to her, maybe talk for a few minutes, and then head home. But to be even more honest, he was secretly hoping she would invite him to stay. He wasn't sure what it was (because being the mighty Uchiha Sasuke meant always being confident and holding your head high), but something about the situation made his stomach turn upside down. Sure, they had spent a good amount of time alone before, and he had spent time with her in her own domain before too, but this was different. He felt like he was treading unknown territory.

He almost felt…shy.

Then again, whenever he visited, he never stayed very long, and it was during the day. And every time he did visit, she was fully clothed.

Sasuke hesitated, but he took slow and small steps inside anyway, keeping his eyes on her to watch for any negative reactions. His unease was rooted in the fact that it was almost midnight and she had just invited him in, but also because he just couldn't take his eyes off of her short shorts. She must have done plenty of training to get legs like that…

"If you keep staring, your eyes will fall out, Sasuke-kun," she joked, turning away from him to hide her blush. "That's what my mom used to tell my dad anyway."

"You're so annoying." In reality, he was annoyed. He did not appreciate getting caught, or the fact that his pants were feeling a little tight. And sometimes he hated how easily she read him like that. She laughed and offered him some tea. "You know you could have just left the scrolls at my doorstep."

"It's about to storm. They would have gotten wet." Sasuke praised himself for how quick he was able to conjure a response. He then set said scrolls on her coffee table as she sat down next to him. He swallowed hard; she was sitting so damn close. His breath became quick and he felt his ears warm up. How annoying.

"Right, and that's why I'm asking why you made the trip all the way down here, clearly knowing it was about to start pouring. Besides, there's always tomorrow, I never gave you a due date." She smiled and handed him a small cup of tea. Deep down, he knew she was expecting a specific answer.

When he dropped the subject, she understood and took the pressure off of him. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun. It was very sweet of you to hand-deliver them to me."

Just then, a hideously bright flash of lightening illuminated her apartment, followed by the loud crashing of thunder. When Sasuke looked outside, he noticed the rain had begun to fall much harder. Everyone had deserted the streets to find shelter.

"Ahh, looks like you're stuck here," Sakura exaggerated a sigh. She moved one of the scrolls so she could set her feet up on her table. When her bare arm brushed up against his side, it sent chills down his spine. "So tell me, did you learn anything from my medical text?"

"No," Sasuke admitted. "It was hard."

"Eh?! A task too difficult for the mighty Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke muttered something along the lines of "Don't be annoying."

"Huh? What was that?"

"Nothing." He sat, flustered for three reasons now: the shorts, the proximity, and now his ego had suffered a blow. "I managed to stop some pain, but not all of it, and I can't even get small wounds to close."

Sakura skimmed through her text, trying to fight a smile since she found this whole ordeal adorable. "This is a beginner's text." Sasuke sunk into his seat and avoided eye contact. "Let me teach you then." He then looked at her in surprise. "It's okay, don't be shy. Concentrate and build some chakra in your hand." When he did so, she grabbed a kunai and made a small cut on her forearm.

"That's way too big," he complained. "I could barely heal a paper cut."

Sakura tried not to laugh; she could no longer control the smile fighting its way on her face. So that's what he meant by 'small wounds'. "Just relax, focus, and try to use that energy to close the wound. Push the cells together to close the gap. But not too hard or it will hurt and the skin will end up deformed."

Nervously, Sasuke laid a gentle hand on where the small gash was. For some reason Sakura felt soothed by it. His calloused fingers felt softer than she ever imagined. And even if his focus was entirely on the shallow two-centimeter cut on her arm, she felt his chakra through her whole body.

"Is that it?" he asked, snapping her out of a trance.

"Yeah," she said softly, but she wasn't as focused on the cut. "Your chakra feels nice."

Sasuke averted her gaze and instead watched as her arm looked almost good as new. Suddenly, he felt a little lightheaded. He pulled away and grunted in annoyance. "I didn't realize how much chakra control that takes."

"Hm," Sakura smiled. In a moment, her hand was glowing green and she made it look as good as new in a matter of seconds. "You're right. Too much and you'll make it worse, too little and you won't fix anything."

Sasuke watched in awe, even if it was just a small heal she performed. He couldn't help but think back to when all she could do was cry over his beaten body on the Great Naruto Bridge, and then to her crucial contribution in the war. In Sasuke's eyes, Sakura had definitely grown the most out of the three of them. When he made eye contact again, her eyes were shining bright with happiness. She was so happy that he cared enough to to venture into her field.

He began to see his teammate in a new light: physically and mentally. Naruto's words echoed in his head, and he fought the persistent timidity to make sure she knew he was impressed.

"You're amazing." He told her sincerely. She immediately blushed.

"Well, it was you who pushed me." She returned the compliment. "Your chakra was very soothing, though." She explained, still calmed from it. "Maybe with practice you could also become a medic nin."

"Hn, I doubt it." He sat back in his spot. "I would rather compete with Naruto. At least then there's a chance I would win."

"Not everything is a competition," she scolded him, reminded of his younger self.

"Aa. You're right." Content, she sat back into the couch. "But if it was, I would win."

Sakura took a deep breath to keep her eyes from rolling to the back of her head at his comment, and then suggested that he just stay until the storm passes. Although he was still a little reluctant about staying so late, he secretly enjoyed her presence in the midst of the storm.

Sasuke internally scoffed at the irony. _Sakura_ used to be the shy and flustered one. Now it was Sasuke who scared to utter a word, and who still couldn't stop staring at her. At first, Sakura interpreted his silence as him not wanting to be around her today. But then she remembered how he totally went out of his way to see her today. She was well aware that he knew she had a day off tomorrow and didn't have a problem staying up late.

She almost felt bad for him, the tension was so strong. She was used to him being this quiet sometimes, but something about him just felt more awkward than usual.

"So, how about a movie?" she stood up from her spot on the couch.

"Where did you get that?" Sasuke asked, unfamiliar with the large contraption under her television.

"Shikamaru gave me this cool VHS player thing a little while back. It's big and clunky and I heard they're making some newer technology to watch films, but this is all I have for now."

She shoved a tape inside the machine before resuming her spot beside him. For the rest of the evening, Sakura hoped just talking about herself would eventually ease the tension. She told him all sorts of random, trivial things they never got to talk about: like her favorite activities, foods, and places to visit. Sasuke remained quiet and just listened to her; he was very much at peace. He remembered every detail, down to her favorite place to hide when she was seven years old.

They had gone through a narrative of her whole life, two and a half movies, and an entire bag of her favorite chips before they both lay comfortably on her couch, tired. Through the course of the evening she had slowly moved closer to him, and he unconsciously reciprocated. Now, her head was resting on his chest and he looked down to see her struggle to keep her eyes open for the movie.

It was around two in the morning and the rain had not calmed down much since it started. Before Sakura surrendered to sleep, she asked him quietly, "Stay with me tonight, Sasuke-kun."

Before he could think about it, he reached over and pushed some hair out of her face. "Yeah." She smiled and her breathing became slow and even. Sasuke took a deep breath and felt sleep take over him too.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: So my favorite thing about writing this story again is actually being able to relate. When I wrote the original, I was 15: a single pringle not ready to mingle. I had no clue about love hehe. And now I get lots of my inspiration from my real life relationship.

What about you? Share your experience maybe? I'm a slut for reviews and making friends!  
Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

 **4\. By listening to their voice, you'll smile for no reason**

By summer, the news of Naruto's engagement spread across the entire village and beyond.

Tonight, almost the entire population of Konoha sat together at the BBQ restaurant to celebrate what felt like a holiday. Everyone was either mingling, or listening along with a full mouth. Sasuke sat in between Naruto, who was trying to keep Gai from drinking any more, and Sakura, who wasn't having much luck getting their waiter's attention.

Sasuke watched her wave her arms, and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. She looked so cute.

"Oooohhhh! Sasuke-kuuuun!" Ino cooed from across the table, catching Sakura's attention.

"Huh?" Sakura turned to look at Sasuke. "Did I miss something?"

"Yeah, Sasuke's got the hots for you."

"Did you have too much to drink?" Sasuke countered for her.

"Ahh, no, I don't think so, I can handle more!"

Sasuke sighed, "please don't."

Sai turned around and grabbed the nearest server. "Anything for milady." To which Ino squealed in delight.

Although Sasuke had gotten used to small gatherings where everyone's goal was to get as shit-faced as possible, the amount of drunken people in this room was getting a little overwhelming. Especially since his focus has been on his teammates this whole time, making sure nothing dumb happened that anyone would regret in the morning.

Sakura was in the middle of listening to Tsunade tell a story across the table when Naruto caught Sasuke just looking at her as if she was the only one in the room. A small smile graced his features.

"Why are you smiling?"

Sasuke's attention snapped toward Naruto. He looked like a deer in headlights. He quickly frowned. "Nothing, mind your own business."

"You need some alcohol." Naruto then states, shoving a full bottle of sake in his face.

"I'm good."

"Hey, come on, Sasuke, a little bit won't hurt! You need to lighten up anyway." He watched as the life of the party waved the bottle in front of his face. Annoyed, Sasuke tried to push it away.

"Hey now, how often do we get together to do this?" Kakashi added with a wink, and took another shot.

"Hn," he grunted in annoyance. Peer pressure was stupid. But, he figured, getting a little tipsy might ease his agitation in the midst of this crowd. He took a glass and Naruto poured him some.

The next time Sasuke looked up, everyone's attention fell on Sakura, who was standing now and telling yet another story. Although Sasuke wasn't quite drunk, he had enough to start feeling a little dizzy. He felt a little more comfortable in the setting, but he also felt some discomfort from not being in full control of his body.

She was narrating that one traumatizing incident in which he had accidentally kissed Naruto, earning many laughs and wolf whistles. Annoyed, Sasuke tugged on her sweater lightly, but she just dismissed him.

Then again, Sasuke didn't mind too much. At this point, he was just listening to her voice, even if he hated this dumb story. Just listening to her sound so happy and cheerful, and amused by something so trivial triggered something in Sasuke to realize that he missed her more than he would admit. That, and the sound of her voice seemed so melodious, even if she was beginning to slur with the alcohol.

Sasuke looked at the empty glass front of him. He looked over to Naruto who seemed to be enjoying himself with minimal alcohol (after all, the man didn't need it to have a good time), and then over to Sakura who clearly had a bit too much in her system.

Sasuke sighed and pushed his glass aside, deciding he had enough. He was going to have to take her home tonight.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, your hair is so pretty now. It used to look like a duck's butt. Everyone talked about it." She reached a hand to ruffle his hair but her distorted depth perception only made her miss and slightly trip. He caught her easily.

"I have to get you home, Sakura."

"I- _hic_ – I don't want to go home."

Sasuke sighed. He might as well humor her, or she would keep complaining. "Why not?"

"Because you're going to leave me…and I'm drunk." He had to admit, drunk Sakura was quite amusing.

"I won't leave you."

"Yeah you will," she leaned into him and violently pointed toward a random bench by the grass. "on _that_ bench." Sasuke grimaced.

"I won't leave you…" he repeated. Then she lightened up and straightened her posture.

"Hey, you wanna hear me sing?"

"Sakura…"

"Come on, I'm pretty good, Kakashi-sensei said so." He sighed, and she began wailing the lyrics to her favorite song. At first, Sasuke was slightly annoyed at her stubbornness, and her volume was making his head pound a little. But then he felt a laugh escape his mouth when she continued to sing until they reached her apartment. She wasn't the best singer, but her voice surprisingly put him at ease.

Sakura clumsily made her way to her bedroom as Sasuke made sure the doors were locked and the lights were off. She called for him as soon as she found her room.

When he found her, she walked up to him slowly. She was frowning. "Hey."

"Hn," he wasn't sure why, or how, she had suddenly changed from extremely giggly to pouty. Her eyelids looked so heavy and she hiccupped every minute or so.

"Why did you leave me?" she began, jabbing a finger to his chest. He stepped back at her strength.

"Sakura, what-"

"You know what I mean, Sasuke! You left me! On a fucking bench! Who does that?" she began to raise her voice and Sasuke became a little apprehensive. If she was loud enough she would wake her neighbors, and if she got angry enough she would probably punch him out. "Do you have any idea what you put me through? And-and now you're back and I don't know why. Do y _ou_ even know why!?"

He stayed frozen, ready to react if she did anything irrational. She hiccupped, regained her balance, and then continued. She was breathing hard, and her face was turning a little pink from anger, but something in Sasuke kept him calm. She may have been yelling at him, drunk, but he couldn't help but still be fascinated with her. He almost smiled, then he remembered she could break him easily.

When her yelling died down, she aggressively wiped a tear from her face with the back of her hand. "Why don't you have anything to say?"

"I missed you," was the first thing Sasuke could say. It calmed her down significantly, and she probably won't even remember it in the morning.

Her eyes found his, and for a second he forgot that she was intoxicated, until she hiccupped again. He didn't realize how beautiful she really was up so close, even in this inebriated state. When she reached up to cup his cheek, he leaned into her touch.

He found so much comfort in her, it felt strange, almost unreal.

"Why don't you love me?" she asked, her voice shaky, snapping him out of his thoughts. Sasuke had nothing to say, and her eyes fell. Suddenly, his heart sank. He lifted her chin up so she would look at him.

Sakura seemed to have taken his gesture as a go signal, so she pulled him down and his lips came crashing down on hers. Sasuke froze; he had never been put in a situation like this, ever. Her grip on him wasn't very strong at all so he could have easily escaped. But instead, he let his hands find their way around her waist and pulled her closer.

Sasuke was sure it wasn't the alcohol. He was already beginning to sober up. So what compelled him to go along with her bold move?

Her lips continued to move against his, a little sloppily, but very passionately. Her grip on him tightened when he turned around and pinned her against the wall, hungry for more. The small part of him that was screaming that this was a bad idea was getting quieter and quieter. His hands found the buttons of her sweater and with her consent, he tugged it off. She began clumsily unbuttoning his pants and Sasuke groaned, hoping her small hands could move faster.

The raging, neglected hormones inside him prevented him from thinking straight at this point. He knew this was very wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away from her. She tasted very much like sake, however. And when Sakura began to stumble in his hold, Sasuke snapped out of it.

"Sakura," he scolded. He suddenly felt cold and empty when he broke contact. She looked up at him, and suddenly he couldn't read her emotions. When she tried reaching for him again, he put out a hand to stop her. "Don't."

She looked angry for a second, and then pushed past him to flop onto her bed ungracefully. She was in very much emotional and physical pain. Sasuke, on the other hand, felt weak. There was a moment of silence, which Sasuke used to regain his composure. Like a small child, she reached up at him, and he sat down next to her. "Lie down please," she commanded. He obeyed.

Sakura closed her eyes and took short breaths. "It hurts."

"I know," he agreed, assuming she was talking about the alcohol taking over their bodies. Sasuke promised himself he would never do this again.

"No, not that," she corrected, her voice raspy, "your constant rejection."

"Sakura…"

"I don't want to hear it, Sasuke-kun."

He didn't know what to say. She seemed so hurt. Maybe that's why she decided that getting drunk tonight seemed like a nice escape. That the good news of Naruto and Hinata's engagement was the perfect excuse to get shit-faced for the night and temporarily forget about her problems.

His hand found hers and he held onto her.

"Don't leave me again." She asked, her voice sounding more and more tired. Her thumb was gently stroking his prosthetic hand, and he felt it as if it was real. He knew she was succumbing to the alcohol. She was going to fall asleep soon.

"I won't." he promised.

She curled up into his embrace and began again, "I know another song."

"Hm." He adjusted the arm around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. When she began to sing, this time a much softer tune, he smiled against her pink locks. It was a song his mother used to sing for him when he couldn't sleep. He felt his breathing slow down.

"I love you…Sas'ke-kun" she slurred one last time. Sasuke's heart stopped for the umpteenth time that evening. He wasn't sure what to say to her. Then she added, "thank you." Sasuke found his consciousness hanging by a thread as well.

"I love you, Sakura."

But she was already asleep.

* * *

Sakura woke up with a jerk. A sudden horrible feeling erupted in her stomach. She felt the insides of her stomach crawl back up her esophagus in the most unpleasant way possible. She stood up immediately and ran to the bathroom faster than the Fourth Hokage could. The horrifying sounds of her vomiting stirred Sasuke awake. When he tried to sit up, everything started spinning.

"Fuck," she cursed from the bathroom, the echoes reaching Sasuke. He sat up slowly, first unsure of where he was. When he realized he was in Sakura's bedroom, and she had been the one to cuss and sound in discomfort, he called out to her.

"Sakura?"

"'m fine." She gasped. "Don't come in here."

Then he remembered what happened last night. Lifting the sheets, Sasuke fumbled with the buttons of his pants and waited for her to come out once he heard the water in the shower running.

"How are you?" he asked when she emerged, clean and looking looking less pale and irritated.

"I'll live," she dismissed it. "You?"

"My head just hurts."

She tried to smile and disappeared into the kitchen. She came back with a glass and a pitcher of water, "Drink this," she handed the glass to him, set her hands on his temples, and began pumping chakra through his head.

It was very soothing. Within five minutes, he felt almost as good as new. He admired her ability to make him feel better despite clearly feeling worse herself. She really was the most selfless person he knew, right next to Naruto.

"Just finish the water. It should get rid of the rest of your headache because you're dehydrated."

He hesitated, feeling a little shy and scared that he would just be useless to her. But after a good ten minutes he realized that if he couldn't make her feel better physically, he could at least stay and comfort her. "Do you want me to stay and take care of you today?"

She smiled slightly, but shook her head. "Hey, I'm the number one medic in the entire world. I think I can take care of a little hangover." She patted his leg to reassure him. "Besides, I have to go to work today."

Sasuke frowned, hoping she wouldn't see.

"Thank you though, Sasuke-kun." She smiled both at how he seemed to relax at her response, but also because she realized she had been thanking Sasuke a lot lately. He had been around much more than she ever remembered and expected.

Then she turned to him, "So what happened last night?"

"You had way too much alcohol." He explained easily.

"Yes, thank you, Dr. Uchiha." She laid in his lap and started playing with the hem of his shirt.

He gave her a playfully annoyed look. "You wouldn't stop telling everyone about the incident back when we were kids, when Naruto kissed me."

"You kissed him back." She reminded him.

He glared at her for real. "Do you want to know what else happened, or not?"

She giggled, "Sorry."

"You told me my hair was pretty, you started singing – very off key by the way, and it was extremely annoying," she looked absolutely mortified. Sasuke couldn't help but smile. "But I liked it."

"Don't patronize me." She warned, blushing.

"No, no, it was good, really."

"Ugh," she groaned. "How embarrassing. And then?"

"Then…" He hesitated so much; he hoped she didn't see right through him.

"Then…?" she prodded, her eyes gleaming, almost as if she was expecting something.

"And then…you flopped onto your bed, dragged me down with you, and told me how much fun you had before passing out." Sasuke explained a little too quickly. He broke eye contact and chugged down the rest of his water.

Sakura blinked. "Hah, sounds like something I'd do." She stood up slowly, refusing his help. "Well, I'm heading out. Thank you again for taking me home last night, Sasuke-kun. I appreciate it; even though I am horribly embarrassed that you had to hear me sing."

"Yeah…" he watched her put on her coat, grab a glass of water, and walk toward the door. She seemed really tense, he concluded, though it might have just been the after effects of getting wasted last night.

"You're welcome to stay here until you feel better." She added before heading out. He raised a hand in confirmation as she left.

On the other side of the door, Sakura's smile turned into an annoyed frown. She may have been drunk, but she remembered exactly what happened last night.

* * *

"What a liar!" Ino slammed a fist onto the counter, frightening a nurse walking by. When Sakura arrived at the hospital that morning, the first thing Ino did was interrogate her best friend like she just came from a crime scene. After Sakura explained what she remembered, Ino's eager gaze turned into one of absolute rage. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Sakura sighed, arranging the file folders in front of them. "I don't have time to think about that right now, Ino."

"Yes you do!" she insisted. "This is huge!"

Sakura pouted in agreement and handed her some files and a clipboard. "I don't know. It looks like he's just going to pretend like nothing happened anyway."

"You should talk to him."

"And make things awkward between us?" Ino rolled her eyes at her point. "I really don't want to ruin anything we have right now."

When Ino had nothing to say, Sakura finally dismissed the issue with an indifferent "Whatever," and quickly changed the subject, "you know what we _should_ be worrying about? Not wearing the same damn dress to Naruto's wedding next week."

"Hey! You know I bought that dress first! And it matches my eyes." Ino stuck her tongue out playfully when Sakura glared at her. "I win this round, _forehead_."

Sakura smiled. "Whatever, Ino-pig."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This was a little shorter. Let me know what you think! About anything!

* * *

 **5\. While looking at them they're the only one you see**

Naruto stood in front of his bride, his mouth stretched into the biggest grin anyone has ever seen. Hinata stood facing him, her smile soft and warm as they said their vows. All eyes were on them.

While Sasuke watched his best friend become overwhelmed with happiness, he felt the corners of his own mouth turn upward. He imagined himself in Naruto's place – something that never occurred to him before. The thought scared him a little at first.

He pictured Sakura in front of him saying her own vows. It wasn't hard imagining her promising herself to him, saying that she would be by his side for the rest of their lives. In fact she already has, on more than one occasion too. Contrary to popular belief, those things stay with Sasuke.

Sasuke shifted his glance over to Sakura beside him. She was quiet, but he could tell she was trying not to cry. Her lips formed a genuine smile, but they were quivering. Her hand was closed into a fist as she tried not to start sobbing loudly in the middle of their vows. Without thinking, Sasuke gently laid a hand on top of hers, causing her expression to change to surprise as she looked up at him, eyes wet.

Then his world froze, and everyone around him disappeared.

He imagined a life with her in the future. How it would feel coming home to her every night. They would have their own place, close to the hospital, but also near her favorite dango shop. They would live in a nice, modern apartment, just like she wanted. Even if she could afford the most luxurious home in Konoha with her pay, she was a very simple person, and so was he. He had been spending more nights at her apartment, and he concluded that nothing was more calming to him than her being the first and last things he saw each day.

They would raise their own family: a new generation of Uchiha. They would have three kids: a daughter to protect and two sons to keep the Uchiha name alive. Their kids would have his hair and her eyes- his skill and her intelligence, his cool and her fighting spirit. It sounded amazing, and Sasuke found himself smiling at the thought. Sakura smiled back up at him, unaware of what was actually racing through his mind.

When Hinata's gentle voice said, "I do", he imagined it in Sakura's voice. Sasuke swallowed hard.

Then everyone's loud cheers erupted, snapping Sasuke out of his thoughts. He felt a little shaken and overwhelmed from his visions of the future. They came so fast, and now his mind was all over the place. He suddenly felt really dizzy.

"Are you okay?" Sai asked beside him. Sakura turned her hand around and gave his a squeeze, reminding him she was there. Although it comforted him, it really wasn't helping the situation very much.

"Aa," Sasuke nodded, gently removing his hand from hers. "I just need some fresh air. I'll be right back."

He looked back through the crowd to see Sakura tears of joy for her best friend. She looked so perfect in the dress she was wearing- even more so than the night he spent with her at the festival. Sakura was a grown woman now, he realized, both mentally and physically. She was no longer the little girl that used to cling on him all the time, or the little girl that hated Naruto so much. Amongst all the things that changed about her, her love for him remained, and Sasuke knew this. It brought peace to his heart.

She was a potential partner: she was someone he knew he could spend the rest of eternity with. She would make a wonderful companion with her undying loyalty. She would be a great mother: so caring, loving, and understanding. A great lover too: the passion in her eyes would be most inviting in the bedroom.

Sasuke's lower half suddenly felt tingly in addition to his stomach turning upside down. With an irritated grunt, he turned around and turned his attention to the sky.

Sasuke was surprised, first of all, that he was thinking such things. They were only 21, and he was already imagining how it would be like raising a family with this girl. They weren't even dating, although this could be arguable with how much time they spend, and how much intimacy there really was between them.

Then again, Sasuke pondered, he had known her almost all of his life. So thinking these things was not as bad. And Naruto did just get married at 20, but that didn't make it any less scary for the lonely man. The dobe probably knew what he was doing. He knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with that one specific woman that he loved. He knew his path; Sasuke didn't.

This became a very frustrating thought to Sasuke, seeing as he took an entire two years of self redemption to figure out what he wanted to do next. Now, Sasuke was a changed man. He was no longer the lost, deranged, and vengeful boy he was a couple years ago. The years spent on his journey alone changed a lot about how he perceived the world and others, and most importantly, himself. And he only returned when he was convinced that he knew what he was going to do when he came back. But, of course, with his luck, he had no idea how to tackle the most important problem. He didn't even know where to start with her.

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted again when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Hey, are you okay?" It was Sakura. She looked concerned. She was hugging herself to keep from the cold.

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

"Do you want to be left alone?" When he didn't answer, she assumed he meant yes. She turned around to walk back to the crowd, but his voice made her stop.

"I'm happy for him."

She turned around again to read his face but his eyes were covered with his hair. "But…?"

"But I don't know where _I'm_ going. It makes me think…Naruto and I have always been different: he follows a path of light and love. I never did. I never knew how." He wasn't sure why he was telling her all of this, but something inside of him felt relieved to let it out. To let _her_ know.

"Now he's married. He's starting something new and, once again, I'm behind because I don't know how to live the life of a normal person." Sasuke clenched his fists, unsure of who to blame for this mess he called his life. "I've always been taught: revenge, hatred, murder. And even if I was able to pull myself out of that mindset, now I don't know what to do."

Sakura watched as he leaned against a tree, eyes still focused on the stars above them. She still couldn't see his eyes but she heard the pain in his voice. Softly, she told him, "Well, if it means anything to you, I think you're on the right track, Sasuke-kun."

"How?" His tone was soft. He was sincerely curious.

He seemed so vulnerable. It kind of frightened her to know that he was putting so much trust into her. She placed her hand on his arm and gently moved him to look at her. When she caught his eye, she made sure to give him a reassuring smile, "Well for starters, you're back home."

Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat at her words. She was right: he was _home_. He was back in a place that wasn't full of revenge, hatred, and murder. If anything, it was the opposite. He had his new family here, and, like Sasuke, the village was also recovering and learning new things about itself.

"You don't need to stress about getting married at this very moment, just because Naruto decided it was time for him to settle down." She stroked his arm, sending shivers down his back. "Whatever happens happens for a reason, when the time is right."

It took him a moment, but a smile tugged at his lips. He nodded solemnly and then reached up to poke her forehead gently. She scrunched up her nose cutely and he smiled.

"Thanks."

* * *

Sasuke wondered how long he had been sitting at the same table now. His lower half was beginning to feel sore from the lack of movement. Around him sat his teammates and Ino, who had stolen Naruto's seat. Everyone else seemed to enjoy all the mingling, while Sasuke's mind was still clouded with thoughts of his future with Sakura.

He tried, as much as possible, to make it seem like he was okay, but every time she would look over to him and smile, brush her hand against his, or call out his name, he would feel a mixture of happiness and confusion (though mostly the latter) and it was back to square one. He remained quiet for the evening to prevent having to stick a foot in his mouth.

So in the end, Sakura was doing most of the talking. Sai was studying everybody, and Kakashi just listened to his kids talk. Though he wouldn't admit it, Sasuke knew his former sensei was secretly trying not to get emotional in the middle of all of this.

"They look so happy," Sakura sighed wistfully, resting her chin on her hand.

"Are you jealous?"

"Of?" she looked back at her team, rather taken aback by the question.

"Hinata?" Kakashi asked her seriously, "since she just tied the knot with the man of her dreams." Now, Kakashi would never ask a question so bold and insensitive, but his ulterior motive of poking at Sasuke was his driving force. He checked Sakura's frown, making sure he wasn't pushing his boundaries.

"A man who will sweep her off her feet." Sai sighed, mimicking a princess who just found his Prince Charming.

"That could'a been you up there instead of Hinata you know," Kakashi chuckled softly, "but you would have beat the shit out of poor little Naruto for the rest of his sad life."

"You guys are assholes," she sank in her seat, a cute pout drawn on her features. Kakashi eyed Sasuke, almost evilly. The glint in his eyes made Sasuke uneasy. He did not like being put on the spot, much less in this situation.

"Why? You have so many choices." Kakashi said easily. "You don't like _any_ of your suitors?"

"I don't know, not really." She dismissed the question very passively. They were having so much fun picking on her today, and to be honest, she really didn't care for the men after her. "Most of them just want to get in my pants anyway."

Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Shouldn't you be protecting her from these men?" He finally spoke up, visibly annoyed. "Not encouraging her to run off with one of them?"

"No, that's big brother Naruto's job."

"She's older than him." Sasuke countered, unsure of why he was even participating in such a trivial argument at this point.

"She's older than you too but you're getting pretty defensive." Kakashi grinned under his mask, and for a moment Sasuke considered jumping across the table and fighting this man he called Hokage. Sakura was quiet beside him and Sasuke felt his cheeks feel very warm. He felt embarrassed _for_ her. "Besides, Sakura is a big girl. She can take care of herself."

Sasuke could tell Kakashi was poking at the bear. He was well aware of the game his former sensei was playing at. He was waiting for Sasuke to say something extremely embarrassing regarding his feelings for the kunoichi. That, or he really was just being an ass, having fun humiliating him in front of her.

It was Sasuke's turn to pout for a while.

"Why are we even talking about my 'love life'?" she changed the subject, putting air quotes around love life. "This whole night is about Naruto."

Kakashi leaned back in his chair, satisfied for now. "I suppose you're right."

As the celebration continued, Sasuke grew tired. Despite Sakura's attempt to comfort him, he still felt a little uneasy thinking about his future. He just wasn't sure what to do. It was hard enough thinking about his feelings for her. Kakashi and Naruto talk about confessing like it's such a simple task to be performed, when in reality, Sasuke felt it was much more complicated than that. Then again, they were considered normal. And they probably didn't over analyze everything the way he did.

When Sakura eventually turned to him again, she asked, "How are you feeling?"

He contemplated on talking about his feelings, but he knew she was just trying to enjoy the evening, especially after that whole episode with Kakashi. So, instead he went a completely different and unexpected route and asked, "Do you want to dance?"

"D-dance?" she repeated. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, refusing to repeat himself. It was embarrassing enough the first time. He wasn't even sure where that proposal came from. Then she smiled, "You dance, Sasuke-kun?"

"No," he answered easily. "I was hoping you do though."

With a giggle, Sakura stood up and offered her hand. "Well we can figure it out then."

Sasuke almost laughed at his luck when they arrived on the dance floor. His timing was truly impeccable. A slow song was playing and everyone who was dancing held their significant other close. He looked down to see Sakura trying to hide a blush by averting her gaze as well. With a nervous breath, Sasuke offered his hand. He had never done this before, but it was quite thrilling.

They stood about a foot apart. Sakura was following his slow patterns, hoping he would say something. He was just looking at her, making her feel extremely self conscious. She wasn't feeling as bold as she was the other night to poke fun at him.

"Sakura," his soft voice caught her attention and she looked up at him. "Relax."

This time he was looking at her straight in the eye. She smiled up at him. It seemed as if it was only them that evening on the dance floor.

Something about him drew her in, and before she could stop herself she moved in slowly. When he didn't protest, she closed the distance completely and rested her head on his chest, his slow footsteps still leading her. They swayed slowly and without much rhythm. Nevertheless, they remained graceful and completely at peace.

"What does your future look like?" he asked her suddenly.

"My…future?" Sakura's voice was slightly muffled from her position. She shrugged against him. "I see the main hospital being mine. I'd always work to help people. Maybe a nicer apartment…I could definitely use some of those new technologies around my house."

Sasuke grunted to let her know that he had been listening.

"Hopefully you'll be around," She added a little hesitantly after a moment of silence, "assuming you won't leave again." It felt more like a question than a statement to both of them.

He gave her hand a little squeeze. "I won't." She seemed to relax immensely at his words. Sasuke felt calmed by her closeness as well.

All of a sudden, it hit him: he knew what he wanted in his future. The way that he only saw her in the midst of the crowds showed him how it could be for the rest of his life. And honestly, he was pretty fond of the idea.

He remembered how girls from his childhood used to scream in his presence. When they proclaimed their love to him, they would state how he made their hearts flutter, and continue to scream about how he made them so nervous. He remembered when Naruto always told him about how Sakura gave him butterflies in his stomach, and he would always end up giving himself a panic attack when trying to talk to her.

But with Sakura, he didn't feel any of that. It was complete peace. When he saw her, his heart rate would slow, he would catch himself smiling stupidly at her cute antics, and her presence gave her this comfort he couldn't explain. There was no anxiety, no panic attacks, no fear. She felt like home.

He still wasn't sure how he was going to do it, but he knew it was Sakura. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Sakura.

Quietly, but sincerely and innocently, he asks, "Come spend the night with me tonight." Sakura is completely shocked out of her relaxed state. She shifts her head against him a little bit but not enough to move their position. She's suddenly aware that her face is heating up. Smiling, she gave his hand a small squeeze as a confirmation.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: More plot than prompt here. It was a little hard since it's so similar to chapter four's idea. So I added some Sakura into this. Sasuke's so cute. I want ten.

* * *

 **6\. You'll realize you're always smiling to yourself when you think about them**

Sasuke was still a little unsure of what to do next, but he figured his next best bet was to just show her happiness: show her the laughs and good times and intimacy that she missed out on because he was gone for so long. Although he was not the extravagant romantic type, Sasuke would easily find ways to make sure Sakura's cheeks turned pink and a smile would grace her features.

He was very subtle too, for Sasuke was not a man of grand gestures.

It would be small, simple things, like tucking some loose hair behind her ear while she was furiously scribbling on some paperwork. She would pause, blush, and smile in thanks. When they neared sleep on nights they spent together, he would rub circles on her back and rest his chin on the top of her head, feeling her cheeks heat up against his neck. She would mumble a soft "g'night" and drift off to sleep peacefully.

He would invite her to talk about her stressful day when she looked like she was about to implode. He lent an ear generously, and at the end, she would collapse into his arms and thank him for being such a good listener.

He would bring her an extra bento at work when he ate out with Naruto, knowing sometimes she barely had time to eat at work. Sakura would become flustered at all the nurses behind her giggling like school girls. It was the small things he did that made her happy, and the small responses he got that pleased him and alleviated the guilt in his heart.

Something about Sakura just drew him to always feel the need to touch her. Whether he would unconsciously stand so close to her that their shoulders brushed, or wrap his arms around her entirely when she ran into his arms after a long day, Sasuke always found excuses to touch her. Much to her surprise, Sasuke actually gave wonderful hugs and really soothing back rubs.

Sakura's aura seemed to be much brighter in the following weeks. She would voluntarily stay at work longer, requiring less caffeine and sleep. Tenten noticed how much more she had been smiling as well. Her already alluring personality had increased tenfold, and everyone noticed: even Sasuke, and especially Naruto.

She seemed genuinely happy, and that brought peace to both of their hearts.

On the other hand, ever since Sasuke came to his conclusion that he wanted to be with her, he grew a little possessive. Of course, it was within reason, and only the people who could read Sasuke properly noticed. When he tried to justify his actions, he would say that, as one of her best friends, he was not going to allow any random hormonal man to touch her.

At first, Naruto thought he really was just being protective. But once he saw the ghost of a smirk grace Sasuke's features, he knew what he was up to.

He spotted her standing in front of another man he had never met before, one day. In one hand she was holding some medical texts, and her other hand rested on the strap of a bag. She had on her full doctor's uniform, and she seemed a little uneasy, though she tried to keep a cordial smile on her face for the man she was speaking to.

With a low growl, Sasuke approached them. Sakura could not look happier to see him. "Sasuke-kun!" her face suddenly brightened and Sasuke fought a smile.

"Sakura," he greeted with a smile. "I'm sorry," he feigned sincerity. "Am I interrupting something?"

The man looked at Sasuke from head to toe, a snarl forming in his expression. Meanwhile, he was losing points with Sasuke as well. This stranger stood too confidently in front of him, and seemed unaware of who exactly he was. The way he made Sakura tense beside him only made things worse.

"No, not at all." The man finally answered, and disregarded Sasuke, turning back to Sakura. "Who is this?"

"Ah," Sakura apologized half-heartedly. "This is Uchiha Sasuke, one of my good friends."

Something changed in the man's expression, Sasuke couldn't quite tell. He wasn't sure if he seemed intimidated at the sound of his last name, or even more uncaring and dismissive towards him. Either way, Sasuke's patience with this man was growing thin, and it grew even thinner when he sensed Sakura's discomfort once more.

"Sasuke-kun, this is Hiru-sensei. He is a medic from the hidden cloud village." Sasuke remained indifferent. If this is how this new guy wanted to play, he would beat him at his own game.

"Nice to meet you,"

"Hn,"

Sakura took a deep breath. Kami was just testing her patience, she knew it. "So then," she continued. "I'll have to run a couple more errands, but I should be ready to go in about an hour. If you don't mind, could you take this to Tsunade-sama at the hospital before we leave?" she began to rummage in the bag with her free hand and Sasuke looked back at the man in front of them.

The doctor was glaring straight at young man, as if he was stealing his candy (because really, he kind of was). Sasuke decided he had enough; who did he think he was? While Sakura continued to dig through her bag, he flashed his Sharingan and moved his hair to reveal his Rinnegan, and watched in amusement as fear washed over this joke. Satisfied, he raises an eyebrow and tries not to laugh at how easy that was.

With a short response that Sakura could barely hear, Hiru grabs the folder from her and takes off in the opposite direction. Sasuke's smirk grew, until Sakura hit him softly in the arm.

"I know what you did," she scolded him, unable to repress the smile growing on her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke lied, turning his head to hide the smug grin on his face. "What did he want from you?"

"Oh," she handed him her bag so she could reorganize the items she held in her left hand. "Ino and I are actually headed to the Hidden Cloud Village this afternoon for a mission…I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I meant to tell you, but I forgot when I got so caught up in everything and-"

"It's fine," Sasuke cut in, wondering why she was so frantic and apologetic about a simple mission she was assigned.

She sighed and took her bag back. "It's part of Konoha's outreach program for the other villages' medical teams. Since Konoha is the fastest excelling village in terms of medicine, Tsunade-shishou and Kakashi-sensei signed contracts with some villages to host a program where the best medics, including yours truly, educate them and help build hospitals around the ninja world."

Sasuke looked at her in awe. He knew she was amazing, but to be demanded by the entire shinobi population to make a monumental difference to the growth and development of the whole world? He felt a slight tug in his heart; this was just another reason to love her. She caught him smiling.

"What?"

Swiftly, Sasuke changed the subject. "How long will you be gone?"

Sakura looked down. "They expect this whole program to take about two years." Sasuke's heart dropped. "But I will definitely write to you while I'm gone." She reassured, sensing his disappointment.

"And what does that creep have anything to do with this?"

Sakura suddenly felt awkward. "Hiru-sensei is the head of the hospital in the first village we will be working at." She watched as his frown deepened at this. "He's technically my superior."

Sasuke made a face. "He makes you uncomfortable."

She stayed quiet, unable to argue. She shifted awkwardly. "Well, it's only temporary." Then she smiled. "Besides, I think you scared him away enough."

He wanted to laugh, but his concern for her remained. He saw how much she didn't want him to worry, however, so he sighed and brushed some hair behind her ear out of force of habit. "If he does try anything, just remind him of your big, scary boyfriend back home."

Sakura could have sworn her heart stopped for a moment. She regained her composure, giggled cutely, and thanked him. When he didn't answer, she touched his arm softly and maintained eye contact. "Are you okay?"

"Why didn't you tell me all of this earlier?"

She watched him pout, and almost wanted to pinch his cheeks. This was new, and really cute to her. She took a step closer and laid a hand on his cheek, smiling. "I know, I'll miss you too."

He wasn't sure what compelled him to, but on complete impulse, Sasuke closed the distance and his lips came crashing down on hers. He had no idea where that came from, and it was the farthest thing from graceful. He felt his heart fight its way out of his chest and drop down to his stomach, but it felt nice.

After the initial shock, Sakura smiled against his lips, and then pulled away with a bright, dorky smile on her face. She looked very flustered, but the happiness on her face made him smile too. "You really are something, Sasuke-kun."

He looked away, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Sorry."

She laughed again, the graceful sound easing his embarrassment. "Why are you sorry? You know," she teased. "I've been waiting for that since I was twelve." Then she reached up and poked his forehead with two fingers. "I'll see you when I get back."

She gave him one last hug, and then took off.

* * *

For the first few weeks, Sasuke felt slight paranoia tugging at his sanity when she wasn't writing to him like she promised. After Naruto reassured him she's just busy and that "no news is good news", Sasuke eventually was able to temporarily relax and wait patiently.

Her first letter was awkward, since she had never really written to him before and didn't know what to expect in return. She told him in great detail how things were going and where she was working first. Sakura made sure to reassure him that Hiru was not making her as uncomfortable as he did before. Sasuke figured she was just saying that to calm his nerves, so he reminded her he was only a few days travel away.

When he wrote her back, he didn't say much. He would ask questions for her to answer, simply enough. And every time he heard her ecstatic voice in his head when he read about her stories, he couldn't help but smile.

He wasn't sure why he felt this way anyway. In fact, Sakura seemed to understand his feelings more than he did himself.

When he first heard about Sakura's suitors from Naruto, Sai, and Kakashi, Sasuke didn't see them as a threat. But the Hiru incident served as a wakeup call, and now Sasuke was fully aware of all the men after her. At this realization, he knew he had to do _something_.

Sakura was a beautiful, intelligent, and talented young woman; everyone knew this. And now that she was traveling the world, meeting new people, there was no doubt she was going to run into a few men who would finally meet their dream girl upon meeting her.

So, when Sasuke found himself back in the Uchiha compound, rummaging through his mother's neatly organized jewelry box, he couldn't help but think about how happy this would make her. That, and how disappointed each man would look after seeing the Uchiha symbol around her neck. When he eventually found the necklace he came here for, he took a seat and examined it. It was simple, but very elegant.

It was a family heirloom; he vaguely recalled his mother telling him how it belonged to his father's mother, or something. It had been passed down the main branch of the Uchiha clan for generations, always given to the lucky woman who stole the heart of the next Uchiha heir. Sasuke held it up and imagined it already around her neck, as she would smile in response to such a beautiful and meaningful gift.

Sasuke took a deep breath to suppress the blush tainting his cheeks and the smile forming on his lips, and he headed to the jeweler's to polish it up.

* * *

"You're terrible, you know that?" Ino pointed her chopsticks at Sakura's face one day during their lunch break. "Why didn't you tell him earlier?"

"Are we still on this?"

"We were never 'on this'," Ino countered. "And it's not funny!"

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Sakura groaned. "I don't know. I know it was really immature, but part of me just wanted to make him wait for me. You know, like how I waited for him for seven years."

"Sakura…"

"And it'll give him time to himself to think about whether or not he wants to be with me, because I'm getting a little tired of playing this game with him." she added, a little aggravated.

"Huh," Ino suddenly looked extra interested. "What game?"

Sakura shook her head, looking like she had just eaten something that left a bad taste in her mouth. "I don't know what he wants. I mean, I should just be happy where we are right now. I already know how he feels…"

"I don't think you're wrong for feeling that way though." Ino sighed. "You've waited so long."

"Right," Sakura agreed. "Besides, I don't think he's ever missed me before. This can be a first."

"Fair enough," Ino reached over, taking a dumpling from her plate. "But do you not feel even a little bit of remorse? He's been so good to you lately."

Sakura thought back to all the moments Sasuke was the cause of her smile. She remembered the way he brings her lunch, even on his low Genin pay. She thought about the times he would walk her home if she worked over time. She smiled at the way his countenance would change based on what she would be ranting about after a long day.

Sakura had never truly seen this side of Sasuke before. She knew that when they were younger, he was most definitely capable of loving and caring for his teammates, but she had no idea how sweet he could actually be after ridding his life of hatred and revenge.

Not only was Sakura ecstatic from all the attention she was getting from the love of her life, but she also felt very giddy knowing he loved her back, even if he hasn't said it to her yet. She couldn't fight the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Yes, he has," Sakura, in turn, stole a piece of shrimp from Ino's. "Because of him, this is the happiest I've ever been since…I can't even remember."

"Mhmm, and you blatantly lied." Ino shook her head, "all because you want your revenge. Sounds familiar."

"Okay, now you're just being a jerk," Sakura defended. "If I really did pour my entire being into this kind of mission it really _would_ take two years."

"True, but Kakashi-sensei specifically said our job was to educate and then _kick start_ the growth of medical expansion around the world," Ino countered effortlessly. "not make sure we ourselves are carrying wood to build hospitals and then personally train all of the potential medics."

"I hate you," Sakura mumbled, succumbing more to her guilt.

"And why the hell did you tell him two years? Three and a half weeks in every major village, this should be done in six months."

Sakura wasn't even sure why Ino was getting on her case about this. Even if she was acting like a child right now, Sakura couldn't help but feel a little resentment for everything that made her grow up too fast. And now they weren't letting her act a little childish, as if she didn't already feel a pang of guilt in her chest for hurting Sasuke like this.

"As if he really cares that much," she waved a hand, dismissing her accusations. "He has Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei, and all the other boys back in the village to keep him company. They can train and punch each other in the face all they want without me there to scold them into next week."

Ino laughed, but then she became serious again. "Are you kidding me?" Sakura looked up, surprised at how easily and confidently Ino smashed her opposition. "Sure, he's been hanging out with all the other men around town, but when it comes down to it, he's always thinking of you."

"What are you talk-"

"And I bet every time he does hang out with them, they're talking about you."

"Okay, now where did you get this?" Instead of being convinced at this point, Sakura fell back on denial at how ridiculous her best friend sounded.

"Sai told me." Ino said simply, and it seemed credible enough. "And come on, I see the way he looks at you. It's the same longing look Naruto gives Hinata when they're together."

Sakura looked up at her curiously. "How?"

"He doesn't look at you lustfully, but longingly. Lovingly."

To be honest, Sakura couldn't deny any of this. It was true, Sasuke had really learned to open up to her and show more affection than she ever imagined he would. Of course, he never did anything drastic like Naruto, or extravagant like Sai, or even romantic like Chouji, but he made sure she knew she was loved, as much as Uchiha Sasuke could.

Ino sat back in her seat when she felt content with seeing Sakura contemplate her life decisions. If they were both going to be really dense about this whole thing, she would at least do her best to speed things up a little.


	7. Chapter 7

**7\. You'll do anything for them**

 _Sasuke-kun,_

 _I hope you're doing alright! I'm sorry I haven't written to you in a couple weeks. Work has gotten really busy lately because we just opened the new hospital in Amegakure. It's going great! I've met so many new people here. All the new medical students are a delight! How are you doing? I miss you._

 _Love,  
Sakura_

* * *

 _Sakura,_

 _I'm alright, thank you. How are you_ really _doing? I miss you too._

 _Sasuke_

* * *

Sakura reread his letter, surprised and flattered at how he read right through her. Even though they had been spending a lot of time together before she left, she honestly didn't expect their relationship to be this close. Despite his short answers in his writing, she really did feel like he cared.

She smiled and pulled out another scroll. He got a response the same day.

* * *

 _Oh, Sasuke-kun,_

 _It's been so stressful. I can't believe the villagers here have the nerve to talk to us like that after all we've had to offer! Hmph! If it weren't for us, they wouldn't have a new hospital with 150 new medics, and the best medical program they could ever ask for! And if it wasn't for Naruto, their village wouldn't even be standing today!_

 _There is so much to do too, it's hard to shoulder it all. Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing. This mission is great. I'm really excited to be lending a hand to the other villages and doing both our homes a favor. And I'm very flattered I'm considered such a vital part of this assignment! But I'm getting so homesick, Sasuke-kun, and this village isn't exactly welcoming._

 _Oh, and on top of that, I got a letter the other day saying our own hospital is currently understaffed and needs help. Honestly, what was the point of notifying me of such things when I'm days away on another mission?_

 _I'm so stressed, and I really miss your hugs._

 _With love,  
Sakura_

* * *

Sasuke wasn't sure what it was that compelled him to jump into something head first that he didn't even know how to handle. But as soon as he read over her last letter, he decided he was going to do whatever it took to alleviate this stress that was eating at her.

She was already hundreds of miles away and he couldn't just give her one of his signature hugs that she loved so much. So, Sasuke was annoyed (which, upon hearing, Naruto found hilarious).

And for the second time that week, Sakura was truly surprised by Sasuke.

Now, Sasuke wasn't sure what he expected. He supposed maybe they would have him shadow a doctor at the hospital and hold things for them while they were busy. Or perhaps he thought maybe the hospital would have him at the front desk to be bossed around by the other nurses. The last thing Sasuke thought he would be doing was sitting in a room full of children for six hours a day.

If anyone knew Sasuke, they would know never to put him within thirty feet of a child. But in his current situation, the staff figured he should learn how to deal with them if he wanted a family of his own anyway. That, and this was the only thing he was really capable of and qualified to do around the hospital.

He heard about this part of the hospital at first during one of his late night conversations with Sakura. She told him that she and Ino had opened this section to nurse the children back to mental health after the war. In all honesty, this only made Sasuke more confused as to why he, emotionally damaged all his life, was chosen to aid in the mental rehabilitation of Konoha's next generation.

Really, Sakura was full of surprises.

But despite his clear and evident discomfort in the midst of all the children around him (they weren't even doing anything, just playing with toys quietly), Sasuke tried his best not to complain, for this was how he would be of assistance to her.

"Sasuke-san," a gentle voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned around to meet lavender eyes.

"Hinata," he greeted casually.

"Has anybody debriefed you on what you will be doing here?" When he shook his head, she smiled and began to explain, "We don't expect a lot from you since you don't have much experience working with kids. But your job is to keep these kids occupied and keep them company in between their therapy sessions."

Sasuke frowned. "Just me?"

"Oh, no." Hinata shook her head. "There will be more of you this afternoon. The nurses who worked here for this shift were either moved to another department in the hospital, or are on the mission with Sakura-san. So, this is where you come in."He didn't respond, so she continued. "Just make sure they aren't showing any signs of stress, and if they do start to, let one of us know."

"Hn," Sasuke turned his attention on the group of kids in the room. There were between 20-30 of them just lounging around, talking to each other. They seemed very well behaved, until one of them suddenly stopped in his tracks. The little boy stared at the floor, eyes wide open, looking like he had just remembered something horrible. The boy sat down and began to rock back and forth.

"Oh," Hinata's face turned into one of deep concern and sympathy for the child. She easily scooped him up into her arms and let him rest his head on her shoulder. The child buried its head into her soft hair as she waited for him to doze off. "This is Katsuo. He lost both of his parents in the war."

She was stroking his head lightly and rocking side to side. Sasuke almost smiled; she would make a great mother for Naruto's kids. He also briefly wondered how much different his life would have been if he, too, was under this kind of care growing up. Sakura really was an amazing person.

Then he thought about how difficult this was going to be. He could barely handle his own emotions nowadays, let alone a bunch of traumatized children's. When Katsuo began to stir in Hinata's arms and cry, she took it as her cue to leave.

"It's time for his session anyway," she made her way to the door. "Thank you so much, Sasuke-san. Sakura really appreciates what you're doing for us."

And that was enough to keep him going. He took a deep breath.

"Hey." Sasuke's attention was suddenly jerked towards a small child tugging at his pant leg. "Who are you?"

"I'm your temporary caretaker."

"I know that," Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the kid's attitude. He was about to throw it right back at him when he remembered it was just a child. This was going to take some getting used to. "I mean what's your name?"

A couple more children had gathered around curiously. Awkwardly, Sasuke sat down in the middle of the crowd. "My name is Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

"What's an Uchiha?"

He almost laughed at the question. And before he could answer, more questions came his way.

"Are you a ninja too?"

"Are you any good?"

"How old are you?"

"Why is your hair long, are you a girl?"

"Are you new?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. Ten minutes into the job and he was already being bombarded by children's questions. A small girl crawled into his lap and looked at him with bright blue eyes. She looked about seven years old. "Are you Sakura-sensei's boyfriend?" Sasuke's breath hitched in his throat.

"No," he tried to pick her up and put her aside, but she insisted on staying in his lap, now occupied with one of her toys.

"All the nurses talk about it." She stated confidently. "I hear about it all the time. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Another little girl began to play with his hair. When he tried to stand, the two girls started crying. Sasuke sat down and sighed.

"Do you want to be?" she continued her interrogation after he realized he was stuck. When Sasuke caught his ears warming up, he tried to tell himself he was just caught by surprise by the question. He shrugged, hoping she would just interpret that however she wished and stopped asking so many damn questions about his private life.

"A lot of boys want to be Sakura-sensei's boyfriend." The other one stated, braiding another strand of his hair.

Sasuke scowled. "I know."

"It's because she's pretty. Right, nii-chan?" Once again, he was caught off guard, this time by the affection this child used on him. He barely knew her and she was already calling him big brother. He hadn't heard that term in a long time either. It seemed to alleviate some of the tension and pressure he felt.

Maybe these kids weren't as bad as he thought.

"Yeah," he said before he could think about it, "she's beautiful." The girls cooed, and more joined in to interview him some more. They seemed to be very fascinated with Sakura and what he had to do with her.

"What else do you like about her?"

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

The next few days were pretty hellish as well. Again, Sasuke wasn't sure what he expected. Some of the kids seemed to like him, but most of them weren't too fond of him. He wondered if it was because he was seemingly intimidating. But even if that was the case, what was he going to do about it? It was in his blood to just naturally look menacing.

("Stop staring at us like that!"

"You're gonna make the little ones cry!"

"Oh my god your eyes!"

"Oh good job, you made Asami cry!")

Sasuke really was trying though. Every time he was put in an awkward or stressful situation, he just remembered how happy Sakura would be if she only knew what he was going through for her. She would know eventually, though, and that's all it took to keep him going every day.

When he finally adjusted properly to this new job, it had been three months since he started. Sure, it was three months of mild hell, but as much as Sasuke refused to admit it, he actually grew attached to some of the kids. It really made him consider having kids of his own soon.

His shift was about to end for the day, and he was feeling a little sleepy from the calm environment. He was telling a young shinobi of his travels, about how great and inspiring the entire ninja world is. Of course, Sasuke generally avoided talking about the war, but that didn't mean he couldn't try to inspire them and show them there wasn't anything to be afraid of.

At first it was a little rocky, but the kids grew very intrigued, and some vowed to one day travel as well. In time, some of them told him they were no longer afraid of the world.

Another, eleven years old, seemed to be so inspired by his stories of the chuunin exam, and his sister excitedly exclaimed, "When I become a shinobi, I want _you_ to be my sensei!"

Of course, some kids were still very wary of Sasuke and ninja in general. But Sasuke felt accomplished.

Most of the kids were asleep around or on him now, and one little girl used his cloak as a blanket. Another one was wearing his old headband from when he was younger. He held a little boy in one arm, his head resting on his shoulder.

Before he could finish one of his stories, the door opened gently to reveal Hinata, and a few others, ready to take their shift. When Hinata tried to take the boy in his arms, he stirred awake and began to whine, "Mmm…nooo…I wanna stay with Sasuke-nii-san!"

"Oh, okay okay." Hinata handed him back over.

He couldn't help but chuckle.

* * *

"Hey!"

On the way back to his apartment, Sasuke ran into Naruto. He was a little irritable because Sakura hadn't written to him in a few weeks. He already wrote to her twice this week and he was considering a third time, but he didn't want to annoy her. Somehow, Naruto understood what his problem was just by looking at him.

"How are hospital duties going?" he asked instead.

"Pretty good."

Naruto chuckled, "How did you even get stuck doing work in the hospital? Your chakra control is shit."

"As if yours is any better." Sasuke scowled. "I just watch kids."

"Watch kids?!" he asked incredulously, enjoying the glare on his best friend's face. "Well your patience is even shittier."

"Fuck off."

Naruto laughed heartedly, "You must really love Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke's attention was suddenly completely on Naruto. He tried to cover his blush with a frown. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about the fact that you'll do anything, even go against your very essence and _watch kids_ , at a _hospital_ , just to make her happy."

"That doesn't mean I love her."

Naruto's face fell and he sighed. "Right, and just because you're an Uchiha, doesn't mean you're smart. Really, I can't tell if you're just being dumb or what."

Sasuke just wanted to leave at this point. First, he was being accused of things he couldn't argue against, and now he was being insulted.

"What do you even know about relationships?" He realized how dumb that sounded as soon as it came out of his mouth.

Naruto stroked his chin sarcastically, "Well, for starters, I'm happily married."

"Shut up." He stopped him, and Naruto laughed, clearly enjoying how this conversation was turning out.

"Well I gotta get going," he finally stated. "I have a date with my wife." He watched Sasuke's uncaring expression and decided to poke him even further, "you know, because I like doing whatever it takes to make her happy…because I _love her_."

"Tch." Sasuke scoffed, and Naruto snickered one last time before parting ways with the angry Uchiha.

Upon arriving home, Sasuke wondered if what Naruto said was really true. It seemed as if everyone knew his own feelings more than he did, and they were all determined to make him aware of them. It wasn't surprising, but actually hearing that he, Uchiha Sasuke, was in love with Haruno Sakura, was such a strange concept.

Anyway, so what if he loved her? So what if he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her?

She deserved way better.

She should find someone who would treat her the way Naruto treats Hinata, and he should just watch from the side for the rest of eternity to pay for all the heartache he brought upon her. Although this seemed like the fair and logical outcome, it didn't feel right.

Annoyed once again, he thought about writing to her once more. Maybe the third time is the charm and she would respond this time.

* * *

 _Hey,_

 _So I know you've been busy, but I just thought you'd like to know how it's going at the hospital. I think it's going pretty well actually. It's getting easier to handle kids, which is such a surprise to everyone. Especially Naruto. He's an asshole._

 _The kids miss you. They keep asking when you'll be back._

 _I hope they're treating you better there. If not, just punch them._

 _Sasuke_

* * *

He seemed content this time. This was the longest letter he ever wrote to her and there should be enough content this time for her to respond.

When he stepped outside and summoned his hawk, Sasuke caught a glimpse of pink from the corner of his peripherals, and his heart momentarily stopped. He turned to get a better view, just to make sure he wasn't going crazy.

Sure enough, it was Sakura.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thank you sooo much for all the feedback and the support! You guys have no idea how much it means to me. It really keeps me going! Enjoy!

* * *

 **8\. You'll get high just by their smell**

Sasuke blinked twice and rubbed his eyes, just to make sure his Sharingan wasn't just messing with his head again. It really was Sakura. She was walking, and it seemed like she just got back and was headed to the Hokage's office.

His legs started moving toward her, and before he knew it, they were standing face to face. Her eyes widened, as if she was surprised to see him in his own village.

"Hi Sasuke-kun," Sakura broke the silence, sounding very flustered. She was avoiding eye contact, so she didn't see his next move: he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. His chin rested on the top of her head. She really felt just how much he missed her from this hug. She hesitated at first, but when she saw no negative reactions, she excitedly wrapped her arms around his midsection.

Sasuke knew he missed her, but he didn't know he missed her _this_ much until she was in front of him once again. He missed the way they just seemed to fit perfectly together. He realized how empty his arms actually were for six months without her.

Her hair tickled his face and her soft scent filled his nose. It was a pleasant haze. He forgot about everything else around him.

"You smell nice."

"What?" she pulled away gently, surprised.

"Nothing." Sasuke broke eye contact and Sakura pushed herself onto him again.

"What's with you?" she giggled, her voice muffled from his shirt.

"You're back early." He said instead. It was half a question, half a statement. She understood.

"Yeah," she kept her arms around him (it just felt so right) and looked up to see his calm expression. "You're not angry?"

To be honest, Sasuke actually knew why she asked him if he was upset. He knew all along that her mission wouldn't take nearly as long as she claimed it would six months ago. He didn't know how long it would really take, but he knew she wouldn't be gone for two years. Furthermore, a few months back he had asked Kakashi about Sakura's return. After doing his best not to laugh, Kakashi simply told him that "she would be back soon."

Although it hurt, and it was very annoying, Sasuke felt like he deserved it. He felt like he deserved to hurt for her, and he deserved to wait for her return. So for a few more months, Sasuke just dealt with the pain of her lies and her absence and waited.

He kept a blank expression in an attempt to convince her that he wasn't mad, but his heart was beating unusually fast. "Why would I be?"

Sakura just shrugged. Then her mouth stretched into a large grin and she cupped his face with both hands. "You missed me, huh?" Embarrassed, Sasuke stepped backward, out of her grasp, and she pouted cutely.

Although it was easy pushing her own thoughts of him and their relationship aside alone, spending six months with Ino who was trying to convince her that Sasuke was in love with her really started to take its toll. She was now more alert regarding his behavior toward her.

But as much as she would try to play Sherlock Holmes and study him until he cracked, she was more giddy and excited to spend more time with this love struck Sasuke. As much as she would have fun teasing him and watching him get flustered over her, she knew that she herself would get twice as flustered.

"Do you want to talk over lunch?"

When he so boldly invited her to lunch on the spot, Sakura tried not to sound too eager in accepting. She never imagined this dream to ever become a reality, and he was standing so close it made her heart beat crazy fast.

"Sure! Where do you want to go?"

* * *

"So tell me how working at the hospital went." She asked as they waited for their food to be served. They sat at her favorite dango shop, across from each other.

"It was tough at first, but I think I did a decent job."

"Oh really?" she chuckled. "Uchiha Sasuke did a good job watching kids?"

"Yeah, I guess they liked me after a while," he humbly told her. "One of them said they wanted me to be their Jounin sensei when they graduate from the academy."

"Oh? Which one?"

"Maiko."

"Ahh, she's got five more years to go."

"Actually four," Sasuke corrected her confidently. "She turns eight next week."

Sakura's smile grew and she punched him lightly in the arm, "Wow, look at you! Are you gonna take my position in the hospital now too?"

Sasuke, who was trying not to smile at this point, looked away. "You're so loud."

"When is that anyway?"

"When is what?"

She looked at him funny, "You testing for Jounin."

"I don't know," he brushed it off, as if it was the most unimportant thing to him. Because really, he played a vital role in the Great Ninja World War, and he aided in taking down the purest form of evil to ever exist. On top of that, he now held the Mangekyō Sharingan and the Rinnegan, a powerful and widely feared combination. Why did rank matter? "You know I'm still a Genin too right?"

"Oh, yeah…"

"Mm," he shrugged. "What about you?"

"Wow it's really been that long, huh?" she pondered. "I tested for Chuunin while you were away, of course. Then Tsunade-shishou helped me apply for Jounin before the 4th World War." She poked him, "So I'm higher ranked than you."

"Tch," he scoffed, but inside he was full of admiration. When they were twelve, he never thought she would ever get this far and accomplish all that she has.

Then the smile on her face went from teasing to genuine. "I really appreciate what you did for me, Sasuke-kun."

He returned her smile. But then he turned serious, and before he could think, he blurted out, "It's not enough."

"Huh?"

He looked up at her, equally as surprised. He didn't mean to actually say that! It was too late now. He cleared his throat and adjusted the plate in front of him. "It's not enough to make it up to you."

"Sasuke-kun…" But before she could say anything else, server came out with their food and he handed her a pair of chopsticks, signifying the end of that conversation. She was lost in thought for a second, until he interrupted her.

"What about you? How was your mission?"

"Hmm, I told you about most of it in writing," she thought for a moment before digging into her food. "I think it was very enlightening, for everyone who was part of it."

"Did you meet new people?"

"Of course I did!" she smiled. "The other villages were very welcoming."

"Did you make new friends?" He hesitated a lot, "keep contact with anyone?"

"Yeah, some medics who wanted to keep contact with me even after I left."

Sasuke was getting a little frustrated with this beating around the bush. "Did anyone try anything with you?" How much obvious can he get?

"Not really," she brushed it off so easily, it brought much relief to him. "I mean, I had a few men take me out once or twice, but I wasn't having any of it."

At this, Sasuke let out the breath he was holding in. Sakura felt a lot of the tension relieved herself. She inwardly laughed at how subtle he was being. It was cute. She continued to tell him the things she learned while she was away, to which he would either nod in agreement or ask a related question.

After the meal, they began walking to her apartment when she suddenly remembered something important. "Oh, I almost forgot! I was on my way to go report to Kakashi-sensei!" she brought a palm to her forehead, "How could I forget?"

"Because I'm more important," He joked.

They stopped walking. "Hah, in what world?"

"Yours."

Sakura was speechless for a good five seconds. Then she rolled her eyes and tried her best to hide the blush on her cheeks. "You're so full of yourself." She reached up to hug him, "thank you for lunch, Sasuke-kun. I'll see you around!"

When she let go, she almost instinctively leaned forward to kiss him. Catching herself, she waved awkwardly instead and took off.

* * *

The next time Sakura ran into Sasuke, he seemed very on edge. He was scowling, and she found it cute rather than intimidating. It reminded her of when they were twelve. The only difference was this time, when she called out to him and asked him to open up, he didn't reject her.

However, before he told her what was up, he asked if he could let out some frustration first at the training field. He requested they work on taijutsu because he needed to train his speed and practice some chakra control anyway.

He told her to go all out, to really get his mind off of whatever was troubling him. She agreed, eager to please him, but he could still see the hesitation in her fight.

"You seem slower today," she commented.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Do I?"

"Yeah," she distanced herself, "and your chakra control could be better."

"Hn," he looked away.

"You've been making fun of Naruto and his new diet," she teased. "Maybe you should go on it too."

He rolled his eyes and charged at her, kunai in his hand, until they collided. He knew she was strong enough to stand her ground, so he put more force into his push. She was doing a great job of keeping him distracted from his problem; she could see the glint in his eyes that showed her he was very invested into this fight and it was relieving plenty of tension inside.

She knew she shouldn't have let up, because as soon as she faltered slightly, her left foot slipped against a rock and she fell into the shallow bank of the river. He gracefully fell with her. Quickly and instinctively, they helped each other out.

Sakura was laughing. She sensed his attitude lighten up, so she decided they were done for today. She was about to tell him when he slipped and fell onto her, taking a face full of her chest.

"Fuck, sorry." He scrambled off of her, fully expecting to be punched into next week. Instead, she laughed some more, laid down on the grass, and pulled him back on top of her. He looked down at her smiling form. She seemed so angelic.

Her hair was sprawled around her head and she looked at him lovingly. The way she looked so calm and content softened his heart, and it showed when his expression relaxed.

"So who angered the infamous Uchiha Sasuke this time?"

"Nature," he frowned. "There was an infestation in my apartment complex this morning," He blandly answered, switching their positions so that she laid on top of him instead. She let her head rest on his chest and he continued, "and my landlord charged twice this month's rent to fix it, even if the complex was rendered uninhabitable for a month."

"Oh,"

There was a moment of silence until Sasuke spoke up again. "It's fine. It was a really old, rundown apartment anyway. It was bound to happen."

Sakura smiled at his attempted positivity and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. "Besides," she teased. "It's not like you spent most of your time there anyway."

The water was cold and the grass was a little rough, but being this close to him made her feel so comfortable. Sasuke, on the other hand, was finding the situation more and more difficult. She smelled so nice, and on top of that, she was drenched and he could feel her on top of him.

He honestly wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this going. Maybe if she would stop being so damn perfect, he wouldn't fall in love with her so hard. How long has she been this alluring to him anyway? Sure, when they were younger, he thought she was pretty, and that she was good company, but it never really occurred to Sasuke that she was this remarkable and that he loved her this much.

"Well," She continued the conversation, feeling her ears heat up. The situation seemed so familiar. "Do you have a place to stay?"

All of a sudden, it was Sasuke's turn to lose his cool and become slightly flustered. "No." He hid it better though. "Actually, I meant to ask if I could crash on your couch for a while…"

"Oh!" she brightened up at the different way this turned out. "D-did Kakashi-sensei say no? Sai?"

"I haven't asked them." He answered simply. She blushed, and he felt her turn quiet and flustered, "What?"

"I just…I didn't think I would be your first choice."

"You're not."

"Oh…" He looked down to see her face fall. He made a sound, indicating he was joking, and she rolled her eyes. Then she smiled. "Well my couch is always open, Sasuke-kun."

"Aa." He seemed very much relieved. "Thank you, Sakura."

They spent the rest of the afternoon in comfortable silence together. He could have sworn she fell asleep too.

* * *

Sasuke lay comfortably on her couch. It had been a few days since she let him stay in her apartment. It didn't feel very different, seeing as he was already pretty used to spending nights with her. He spent most of his time outside, running errands and taking care of missions, and even occasionally helping her out at the hospital, but whenever he came home, it felt so right to come home to her.

She would be returning from work any minute now. Some days Sasuke would get back before her, other days vice versa. He was fumbling with the necklace he had gotten her a while ago, wondering when he would ever gather the courage to give it to her, and if he even should to begin with.

As soon as he hears the door open and her voice call out, "Tadaima," he quickly shoved the necklace back into his pocket.

"Okaeri." He answered instinctively. This routine brought peace to his heart.

She could tell there was something on his mind when she greeted him. And even though she was tired from a long day at work today, she promised him she would come talk to him after she cleaned up and got ready for bed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, making herself comfortable on the couch beside him. She was in her pajamas that Sasuke dreaded being around so much.

"Nothing," he lied easily. "I've just been thinking."

She began to fiddle with the bottom of his shirt, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn't continue, she looked up to see his face was indeed distressed.

"What about?"

"Sakura, you deserve better." She frowned.

"What are you talking about? Where did this come from?" Instead of answering, he just looked at her longingly, and she felt the pain in his heart. "Sasuke-kun…"

"I don't know," he looked so annoyed with all the inner conflict, that's all he could bring himself to say.

"Well," she looked down, just as scared. "Let's start with this: how do you even feel about me?"

"I don't know, Sakura. I never thought about these things before. Lately, you're the only person I've wanted to see. You're on my mind 24/7, and I get anxious whenever I'm not with you. It's driving me crazy."

"I've never felt this before. Unlike…Naruto. He knew he had a crush on you since day one, and when he married the Hyuuga he was so sure he was head over heels in love with her. He's always known what it felt like to want someone this way." He took a deep breath. "It's very new to me. And it's scary. On top of that, you're such an angel, I don't feel right keeping you all to myself. I'm not good for you. That's how I've always felt. You know that."

"Sasuke-kun," she looked down. "That's not true."

"Maybe," He confirmed. "But you know, if I really allowed myself to love you, it would be such a burden to you."

For a moment, Sakura considered punching him out right there. What the hell was he going on about?! She let him finish. "There's still so many things I'm unsure about."

"Like what?"

"I just can't seem to forgive myself for everything I've done to hurt you," he started, and when she was about to protest, he stopped her. "And you can't just do it for me."

Her heart felt very heavy; he was right.

"There's also more I wanted to see, outside these gates." He added softly. "I came back…because I wanted to see you. But I don't really feel like I finished seeing everything."

"Then take me with you this time…"

He was quiet and shy for a moment. "I want to," she brightened up, but she knew there was going to be a but. "But I can't just take you away from your career and your home here."

She frowned and stayed quiet.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." He rested his chin on the top of her head. "Not right now."

She sighed; now was not the time to be together and she knew it too.

"I love you," she said quietly anyway, her voice raspy and muffled against his shirt. He gave her a slight squeeze, and was about to respond when she spoke up again first. "You don't have to say it back." A wave of guilt washed over him. He pulled her closer, and it seemed to suffice, for she relaxed in his embrace.

There was a brief silence before she seemed to lighten up.

"Are you sniffing my hair?"

"What? No." he answered too quickly.

"Yes you were."

"Go to sleep, Sakura."


	9. Chapter 9

**9\. They become all you think about**

"Seriously?" Ino looked just as annoyed as Sakura. "So you're practically married."

"I don't even know," she sighed, sinking lower into the hot water. Upon finding out that they would all be free this afternoon, Ino, Tenten, Hinata, and Sakura decided they needed another girl's day together. It was relaxing; they were talking about a new film coming out, until Ino just had to bring up Sasuke again.

"No, that's so stupid!" Ino flailed in the water. Sakura, who was in the splash zone, flinched. Hinata cringed and Tenten looked on quietly. "You need to give him an ultimatum. If he doesn't seal the deal you can't be waiting at his feet for the rest of your life."

"She's right," the brunette spoke up.

"I don't want to pressure him…" Sakura hesitated.

"Why the fuck not!" Ino seemed to be harboring enough rage for all of them combined. "Get angry!"

"Ino…"

"Sakura," she huffed. "If he gets comfortable with your current state right now, he's never going to make an effort to give you what you want. By nature, men are afraid of commitment. And now that you're practically married without being married, he's getting everything he wants, without the commitment!"

Sakura almost believed her best friend for a moment. But then she frowned, "Sasuke isn't like that…"

"Hmph," Ino huffed. "Suit yourself then. But if that was me, I would have been gone long ago."

"Well," Hinata spoke up for the first time. "Maybe that's why Sasuke-san loves Sakura so much."

Ino fell quiet. She was right. Sasuke loved her because when he pushed everyone away, they let him. When he repeatedly attempted to sever his ties with everyone, they all let him, except for Sakura and Naruto. Sakura knew Sasuke worked at his own pace when it came to relationships, and Sasuke appreciated her understanding nature. Like Ino, anyone else would have left by now.

"Yeah yeah," Ino waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure he means well, but if you just keep waiting, you won't get anywhere."

"You've already waited for so long…" Tenten added.

Sakura turned to Hinata, who seemed to be the only one on her side. She was the little angel on the right shoulder.

"I waited a very long time to be with Naruto-kun too," she put a hand on her shoulder gently. "And it was especially hard watching him be in love with someone else for a while." Sakura felt a pang of guilt. "But in the end, it really is worth it."

"I guess I'm just frustrated since he's all I've been thinking about lately," Sakura stuffed her mouth with food. "I feel like twelve year old me again. I feel like I regressed."

"But you didn't," Hinata confirmed. "You've grown so much, and you're so much stronger now. Anyway, you're almost there. You can't give up now."

Ino rolled her eyes; she knew Hinata was right. And right now she had the most credibility out of all of them to give out relationship advice seeing as she was happily married. "You're too nice, Hinata."

"I've been told." She smiled. Then she added, "besides, how do you know you're not all he thinks about too?" She knew that if she hadn't gotten to Sakura before, she did now.

"Pfft," Sakura brushed it off with ease. "I'd like to believe that."

"Well," Hinata continued. "It's not my place to say anything, but you know his best friend is my husband, right?"

Sakura was speechless. The girls laughed.

"I understand where he's coming from," Tenten added, "If Sasuke is anything like Neji was emotionally, he'll definitely have a hard time dealing with his feelings."

"Pfft, prodigies or whatever, they sure are dumb." Ino put her hands together dreamily, "At least Sai is really sweet and in touch with his feelings. Naruto too!"

Sakura laughed. At least two of her boys were doing alright.

Then Tenten suddenly looked glum. "Oh, it's nothing." She dismissed it. "I just…I still can't believe he left me with Lee and Gai, you know?" That was such a lie, and they all knew it.

"Were you two a thing?" Sakura asked suddenly, and immediately regretted it.

Tenten looked up, a little surprised. She sighed, "Yeah," then she looked down again. "We were promised to each other before the war started. Nobody knew, and we were so young, so we said we would wait until after everything calmed down to get married."

Then she sighed, "I really miss him. I guess that's why I'm with Ino on this one." She tried to smile. "If you only wait, you might miss your chance."

Ino spoke up again, "maybe they're both right. I can't tell you what to do anymore-"

"You've never been able to tell me what to do." Sakura interrupted dryly.

Ino continued as if Sakura didn't just interrupt her, "-because you're a grown woman now. But you should really take both sides into consideration."

"Yeah, yeah…"

That night, Sasuke came home to Sakura sound asleep. He quickly changed and hopped into bed beside her. He was exhausted from all the D-ranked missions he had to carry out today. Kakashi promised him higher ranked missions if he could complete the rest of his petty tasks, and a chance to take the Chuunin exams coming up if he did well. Naturally, Sasuke was offended at how easy this task was so he set his goal on finishing it all at once.

He watched her sleeping form for a moment; she looked so at peace. Even though he had a lot of busy work today, they were very easy tasks. His mind would often wander, and when it did, it wandered towards Sakura. He took a deep breath and draped an arm around her, pulling her close.

"Mmm, Sasuke-kun…" she moaned quietly into his chest, finding her sleep again. He kissed the top of her head gently.

"Good night, Sakura."

* * *

 _A civil war in Otogakure huh? Sasuke was reading a newspaper, sitting in the comfort of his own couch. The house was plain and simple, but it was clean and beautiful. He shook his head in disproval; the village was doing so well. He wondered what Orochimaru was up to these days._

 _Suddenly, he heard an angelic voice, "Good morning, darling," followed by pink. Sakura sat beside him, cuddling up to his side. She was still in her pajamas._

" _Good morning," he turned and kissed her forehead gently._

 _She threw her leg over his and started drawing circles on his chest, distracting him from the reading he was doing. "You know, we have a few minutes." She leaned in to kiss his neck gently. "Do you wanna…"_

" _Good morning mama! Good morning papa!"_

 _Suddenly, a small girl came out of one of the bedrooms, full of energy. She had short black hair like his and matching dark eyes, but they were full of Sakura's spirit._

" _Nevermind," Sakura sighed playfully, making herself comfortable once again. The little girl settled on the other side of Sasuke. "You're up early, sweetheart."_

" _Well I'm excited, shannaro!" she exclaimed. "It's graduation day today!"_

" _That's right!" Sakura said proudly. "Aren't you proud of her, Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke smiled, setting his newspaper down. He felt so comforted by the two girls beside him._

" _Sasuke-kun?" he looked back at Sakura, who was now looking at him funny. "Sasuke-kun…?"_

"Sasuke-kun."

"Huh," his eyes shot open to see Sakura wearing nothing but a towel. Her hair was still a little damp. She seemed to be getting ready to go to work.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," she laughed. "You overslept."

At this point, Sasuke was a little annoyed. Not only does he hate being woken up, but now he was apparently late for something _and_ Sakura was just walking around in a god damn towel as if it was no big deal.

"What's going on?" he sat up slowly, keeping the sheets over his lower half. It had been about two months since he started living with her.

"Well I'm going to work, and you said you had some errands to run today," she grimaced as she pulled a comb through her tangled hair. "It's already noon. I'm only working half day today."

Sasuke couldn't think straight. He was still caught in that phase right after waking up when you're in between wondering if that dream was real or not. The line between reality and his imagination was very blurry right now, seeing as she was half naked in front of him as if they were already married. He wouldn't be surprised if a small girl came into the room like in the dream.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." He ran a hand through his messy hair. "I just had a weird dream."

"Oh yeah?" she asked from the bathroom. "What about?"

"Uh," he looked to her bedside table to find an empty bottle of soda. "An ocean…full of soda."

"Did you swim in it?" One of Sasuke's favorite things about Sakura was the fact that she never let a conversation die on her watch. She made it seem like she legitimately cared about what he was saying, no matter how trivial it was.

"I didn't need to, there was a boat."

She looked over at him and smiled, "Ahh. Sounds…interesting."

She started talking again, this time about something else. She was looking for some clothes to wear and Sasuke's mind began to wander once again.

He wondered if this is what it would feel like to be together. He would wake up to her getting ready for work, because contrary to popular belief, Sasuke did wake up later than Sakura. She learned to be a very early bird from her job at the hospital. Sasuke on the other hand, learned to love sleeping in after years of being paranoid and being forced to wake up early.

It was such a pleasant thought. It was definitely something he could see in his future. He was watching her. She seemed to be full of energy, but he knew how she was feeling these days.

"-I want to have a baby!"

"What?" Sasuke's thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

"Huh?" She looked back at him, as if it was weird for him to be surprised by such a thing.

"You…what?"

Her eyebrows met, "were you not listening?"

He considered lying for a moment, but that would only make things worse. "No, sorry."

She sat down next to him on the bed and began to tie her headband on. "I said," she sounded a little annoyed. He couldn't blame her. "Naruto and Hinata were talking yesterday and I overheard a few things."

"You were eavesdropping." He accused her disapprovingly.

"I was not!" Sakura shook her head adamantly. "Well I wasn't at first. Anyway, he said he had news about becoming Hokage in a week or so!"

"That's not surprising."

"Well no," she rolled her eyes. "But it's still wonderful news! I'm so proud of him, Sasuke-kun."

He saw the admiration and love in her eyes for Naruto. This was something he understood and even related to, but not quite something he was used to. He was used to Sakura always brushing him off and not caring about his accomplishments because Sasuke's were always cooler.

"So then he goes on about how their life is gonna get _so_ much better from there, and then out of nowhere she tells him, 'I want to have a baby!' and I don't think Naruto has ever looked so surprised before in his life!" she threw her head back in laughter.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. So that's what this whole thing was about. He wasn't sure if he felt relieved or disappointed.

"I'm sure he'll have plenty to tell you next time you see him," she giggled, standing up again from her seat. "Now get up, you've already lost half the day. I'm heading out now, I'll see you later!"

He nodded as she made her way out and waited until she was gone to lift the sheets and get up.

These last few months have been wonderful. He had forgotten what it felt like to feel so at home. After he received news of his apartment being habitable again, he instead took his limited belongings and told his stingy landlord he was out.

He didn't even need to discuss it with Sakura; she just knew he would end up staying with her. When he came home with all his stuff one day, she just smiled and told him what was for dinner.

They also stopped crashing on the couch because she claimed it gave her weird back problems. But instead of retreating to her bedroom alone, she insisted that he also prevent back pains and just share her large bed. Sasuke was very flustered and unsure at first, but he quickly grew accustomed to it. So on the days where she worked graveyard shift at the hospital, his nights felt a little empty.

They always ate dinner together when she wasn't working. Sasuke may not have been the best cook, but Sakura always made sure he felt appreciated for his efforts, since she knew he did this because of her busy schedule. They would occasionally go out, but not often, for it usually led to people talking.

They had gotten so comfortable around each other, it was almost stressful. For example, most days they would walk around the house half naked after a nice shower. Although Sasuke found very much amusement out of seeing her get incredibly flustered when he would walk by, smelling wonderful, top half exposed, he did not at all enjoy being tortured back when she would do the same. Like this morning.

Sometimes, he swore, she did it with the intention to leave him hot and bothered because she knew he couldn't have her.

As he turned on the water in the shower and waited for it to heat up, he looked at the necklace hanging out of his pocket. Sasuke felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. She had been all he thought about recently, and although sometimes it was a little stressful, it was more comforting.

Out of all the places he had seen and been to, Sakura was his home. No matter how far he wandered, he always came back to her. He thought about what Naruto had told him some time ago: that whenever he saw Sakura, his knees would get weak and his stomach would do flips. His palms would become clammy and his heart would start beating faster.

Maybe, though he would never admit to anyone, Sasuke might have felt some of this when they were younger. He just pushed it away. But now, he didn't get all jittery and anxious when he saw Sakura. He felt peace, relief, and at home. He felt his mind relax, his heart soften, and his soul at ease at the thought of her.

He thought about their lives right now. Just like she had always done, Sakura gave him everything he ever really needed: love and a home. Despite everything they have been through, especially in his darkest times, she loved him unconditionally. She forgave him too and never kept score of all this wrongs against her.

Sasuke thought about their future. He thought about how he wanted to keep making her happy for the rest of their lives. But in order to do that, he had to understand that he had to forgive himself leave the past in the past so that they could move forward. Sasuke felt a large burden lift off of his heart.

The water was hot. He took one last glance at the necklace and decided: he was going to marry Sakura.

* * *

Sakura tried not to let it get to her, but when she woke up that morning in Sasuke's arms, her first thought was that they were finally together. But upon regaining consciousness, she remembered that wasn't the case. Everything Ino and Tenten told her the previous day suddenly outweighed Hinata's positive encouragement. Now she was frustrated.

On her lunch break, instead of grabbing some food, Sakura barged into the Hokage's office to find Kakashi and Naruto talking.

"I need to talk to you two."

They took her to Amaguriama, the sweet shop in the Hot Springs District. Upon seeing her looking very irritated, Naruto suggested they get something sweet and talk. When she told them everything, Kakashi tried not to laugh. "Well, this _is_ Sasuke we're talking about."

"Ugh!" she stuffed more food into her mouth.

"Why are you even upset? What's the rush?" Naruto asked.

"There is none. That's the thing. Everything is so calm, so peaceful, so perfect nowadays in Konoha. Everyone's back, everyone's happy, everyone's okay. It's the perfect time to settle down, have kids, enjoy life. _You're_ doing it!"

"Right, but for Sasuke's it's the perfect time to figure out what he wants." Kakashi reminded her.

She glared at her teacher. "I hate that you're right all the time."

"It's a gift."

She sighed, and then looked at Naruto and asked him with a half-joking tone, "What if it was you instead?"

"What?"

"What if it was you and me instead? What if I had given _you_ a chance in the beginning instead of rejecting you from the start?"

Naruto laughed once he understood what she was asking. She must have been really frustrated to bring that up. "You know, Sakura-chan, I'm always going to wonder that too. There are so many what-ifs regarding you and me."

"So?"

"So, obviously it wasn't meant to happen." He explained easily. Sakura was quiet. "I love you, but you're practically my sister." He reached up to ruffle her hair. "Hinata is my destiny, just like Sasuke is yours."

"You're so corny." She pouted and pushed his hand away. "Hinata is so lucky."

Naruto laughed, "Well I'm just as lucky!"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, and then turned back to Sakura. "So if you're so frustrated, why don't you talk to him?"

"I have! He says he's not ready."

"That was two and a half months ago. Maybe he's changed his mind since, and he's just afraid to be the one to bring it up." Kakashi explained. Sakura looked down, contemplating. "Talk to him again tonight. I have a good feeling about it this time."

She looked at them both seemingly in agreement with each other. She wasn't sure if they were just trying to cheer her up, but they seemed to have faith in Sasuke today. She relaxed and nodded.

"Alright, I'll talk to him today."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** You guys are so sweet, you make me blush! I love reading your reviews, all of you! I definitely had fun writing this one. I find it funny how much I can really relate to Sakura these days: most of my inspiration was pulled from my own current relationship. It makes it so much easier to understand the pain she goes through, and it also inspires me to keep my head up in real life. I'll definitely be writing more in the future! I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter (I'm so bad at endings)!

* * *

 **10\. As you're reading this there's only ONE person on your mind**

She watched him sharpen his kunai, taking note of every single detail. His countenance was mostly calm, but his eyebrows were very slightly turned toward the middle; Sasuke was very focused. His mouth twitched a little when he almost cut his own finger. He was leaned forward to where he couldn't see her unless he turned his head in the slightest, but he knew she was staring.

She sat on the opposite end of the couch, reading a book Temari let her borrow. The fact that she was more than three feet away from him during her reading was the first indication to Sasuke that something was up. Normally she would snuggle up against him, no matter what he was doing, and start reading.

And now she was staring at him, as if she was waiting for him to start a conversation. It wasn't just some absent-minded gazing into space deal. She looked so anxious; he could feel it from where he was sitting.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked calmly, not taking his eyes off of his weapons.

Sakura wasn't sure why she was surprised that he asked. She knew very well he could sense her gaze boring into his head. She made a sound indicating she was thinking, before she dismissed it.

"You know you can't lie to me, yet you try." He shook his head teasingly and she blushed.

"It's nothing, Sasuke-kun." She held the book up to hide her face from him.

"Are you sure?"

"Mhmm," her voice was a little muffled from the other side of the barrier she created, and he rolled his eyes.

Sasuke sighed, set his weapons down, and turned to face her on the couch. Sakura suddenly felt ten times as apprehensive. He spoke softly, "I'm going to ask one more time, then you're not allowed to bring it up later if you deny me again."

He knew she did this whenever she wanted to say something but wanted him to prod first. It was one of those weird things she did that he picked up on after spending so much time with her. Most of the time, she just liked seeing that he cared enough to push, but in situations like this, she really was just unsure if she wanted to bring this up or not.

Contrary to popular belief, Sakura did get tired of all the rejection. Even if she endured this long and far, and it seemingly didn't affect her fighting spirit, it did become very difficult to want to talk about their relationship when she knew she was just going to get rejected again.

She thought about how strangely sure Kakashi and Naruto were earlier today. She wondered briefly if they were in on something, but quickly dismissed it before she got her hopes up.

"Um," she started, and he waited patiently. She slowly lowered the book down. She truly didn't know where to start, and whenever she formed a question in her head that she was about to ask, it came with an expected response that made her second guess.

" _How do you feel about me?"_

" _I don't."_

" _Do you love me?"_

" _Not like that."_

" _Why can't we be together?"_

" _I just don't feel the same way."_

She became anxious again, and made a face. Sasuke almost laughed.

"Come here," he commanded gently, making himself comfortable and inviting her into his bubble.

She hesitated at first, but once she crawled on top of him, he straightened his legs out to where she was previously sitting, and she calmed down significantly.

"Talk to me." He told her, "about anything." Hopefully this would be a decent start.

"Naruto and Kakashi-sensei took me to Amaguraima today." She started. Sasuke made a sound of confirmation that he was listening, and she continued. "Have you tried their Daifukumochi?"

"I don't eat sweets." He reminded her.

"That's not true!" she accused. He smiled; she was starting to relax and open up again. This made him more curious as to why she was so uneasy earlier. "We go to the dango shop all the time!"

"Well," he adjusted slightly to get more comfortable. "They're your favorite. Right next to anmitsu."

For a moment, she was speechless and very flattered, but then she giggled. "That's really sweet, Sasuke-kun."

"You're getting off track," he reminded her.

"Oh, right…" she twiddled with her thumbs. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

She started playing with his hand, intertwining their fingers. When he didn't respond, she took that as her cue to keep talking. "I love you, Sauske-kun." He gave her hand a squeeze in response and she smiled. "Do you ever dream of me?"

"What?" She was beating around the bush, he knew. What was so important that got her so flustered she wouldn't just get to the point? Sakura was a very straightforward woman. She usually wasted no time when discussing important things.

"Do you ever have dreams with me in them?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious."

"Aa." He didn't even answer her question. Sakura frowned and dropped his hand. It didn't seem like a good night to talk about this at all. She swore Kakashi and Naruto would pay for this one. Then she remembered she shouldn't blame them for getting her hopes up. She chose this.

"Nevermind," she sulked, picking her book back up. She decided she would just read for the night.

He became still for a while. At first she thought he was just thinking, letting his mind wander. Then she suspects he fell asleep, making her even more angry. She contemplates calling him out on it, even if she was the one who dropped the subject to begin with, when he starts to shift in his seat. From under her, he was digging through his pocket.

"Sakura," he started. She heard the slight nervousness in his voice that he was trying so hard to suppress. He was suddenly very gentle and loving and she felt it. Her cheeks and ears got so hot, she was thankful he couldn't see her face.

"Hm?"

"I was thinking of leaving to travel again."

She froze. "Oh…when?"

"Soon," he began. "There's a lot I wanted to show you."

"H-huh? Me?"

Sasuke didn't answer. Then his hands appeared in front of her; she wasn't sure what he was doing at first. When his hands retreated behind her, she felt something cold and small against her neck.

He locked the necklace and wrapped his arms back around her midsection, burying his face into her soft hair. He too was thankful she couldn't see his face. He was dying inside; Uchiha Sasuke had never been this nervous before. He was sure she felt his heart racing even from her position.

She looked down to see the Uchiha pendant hanging around her neck, and his soft voice sounded behind her, slightly muffled. "I love you too."

"S-Sasuke-kun…" Sakura was completely frozen at this point. She felt tears threaten to spill from her eyes, but she could barely blink.

"Marry me," he said softly. At this, she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing. She didn't need words. Sasuke smiled, then winced. "Sakura…you're heavy."

* * *

When Tsunade heard about their engagement, the first thing she did was tell Sasuke he was stupid for waiting so long. Then the second thing she did was tell Sakura she should go with him to travel. Before she could protest and say she had a job to attend to, Tsunade reassured her that she would take over the hospital for a while, and that she's sure the hospital missed her anyway.

So they left as soon as they could.

The first few weeks went by way too fast. Sasuke took her to all the beautiful sights he took to memory when he was travelling alone, and in between, they visited the villages that were previously under reconstruction after the war ended: something Sakura never got the chance to see since she herself was so busy rebuilding Konoha.

Their dynamic had not changed much: they were just as intimate as they were in the previous months they had spent together, only this time Sakura felt more at peace knowing she received this affection as his girlfriend and soon to be wife.

At first, Sasuke had no idea how to be a boyfriend. He knew that they already acted like a couple before, but he knew there was more than just the cute hand holding, the affectionate cheek kisses, and the lingering hugs. He knew very well he was only treading in the shallow waters of intimacy with her. In fact, exploring this newly unlocked stage of relationship was something that made them both a little nervous. Sure, they had definitely thought of each other in that aspect, but to actually have it was different.

It was a rather slow process, but they were comfortable, and overall very happy with how things were going so far.

"Check this out," Sasuke told her from across the small café table. They sat at a small village just outside of Amegakure for brunch (something Sasuke used to make fun of Naruto for having, to which he replied that it was something a man with a girlfriend does).

"Is that Naruto?" Sakura put the menu down and looked over to the magazine Sasuke was holding. It unmistakably had Naruto on the front cover. It was turned to the page that had the cover story.

"Yeah," he snickered. "But it's so inaccurate."

"What does it say?" she asked, now curious.

"Uzumaki Naruto has set his sights on becoming the Hokage since he was very young. With the help and support from his family and friends from a very young age-"

"Is that how it starts?" she raised an eyebrow. "It starts with a bare faced lie."

Sasuke chuckled and continued, "he was able to overcome many of life's adversities. Although he grew up without parents, he was still able to find comfort and family with his team who had a special connection with him from the beginning."

"That's not even stretching the truth, that's just a lie," Sakura scoffed. "What kind of publicity is this?"

"Perhaps they are ashamed of how they treated Naruto when he was younger."

"Pfft," she rolled her eyes. "Keep going."

Sasuke read over the next line to himself and had to try not to laugh. He looked up at Sakura's curious face and continued reading out loud, "Although his female teammate Sakura Haruno denied her love for him as they grew up together, she was rivaled with shy Hinata from the Hyuuga clan."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, look." He passed her the magazine.

Sakura picked up from where he left off, "Sakura's love didn't hold very long, however, when her attention diverted to Konoha's traitor, Uchiha Sasuke- okay, I can't read this."

Sasuke smirked and took the magazine back, "and five years after the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, Naruto's heart was indeed stolen by Hinata. Now, they expect their first child- wait what?"

"Naruto! Oh my god!" Sakura squealed, stealing the magazine again. "I can't believe he didn't tell us!"

"Well, we have been gone for a few months."

She frowned, "he never wrote!"

"Maybe it was news that he wanted to share in person."

Sakura pouted, "That's not fair. His best friends had to find out about this huge news through a magazine."

"He's not my best friend."

"He could have at least written to tell us to come back or something!" She dismissed him completely, "What does the rest of the article say?"

"It's just more stretched truth about Naruto's life," Sasuke skimmed the page halfheartedly when the waiter came by to take their order, "and that the baby is due in the fall."

Sakura laughed, "I wonder how he feels about this awful tabloid. Naruto's not one to stretch the truth about anything."

"Hn," Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked. "It comes with being famous."

"Oh, like you would know," she teased. "I bet you're just jealous you don't have all the attention now, like you did before when you two were younger. He finally beat you."

"No," he corrected quickly. "He's just famous because he saved the world. I didn't have to do anything to get girls to love me when I was twelve."

Sakura rolled her eyes so far back she could have sworn she saw her brain. And now he was pouting. "What?"

"Nothing," he put the magazine in front of his face again.

"Sasuke-kun," she laughed. Pouty Sasuke was funny, and taking shots at his pride was even funnier, especially when it exalted Naruto.

Sasuke ignored her teasing, turned to another page, and was reading again. He was making a face and she asked him what he was looking at. When he dismissed it saying it was "some cheesy article", she smiled at how he was slightly blushing, and got quiet again.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better…" she began, but then she got really nervous.

"What?" he brought her attention back to him, waiting for her to finish that sentence.

She smiled sheepishly. "You'll probably have a baby before he does."

Sasuke froze.

"Ours is due this summer."

Everything came at him at once: emotions and thoughts flooded his mind at a speed even he couldn't keep up with. He had absolutely no idea how to react, so the first thing that occurred to him was, "Why didn't you tell me before?!"

Sakura made a face of confusion. "Why are you angry!"

Sasuke blinked and snapped out of it, and suddenly he was hit with all ten signs again. He simply couldn't stay mad at her. Time stopped for Sasuke. The distinct chatter from the rest of the small café was drowned out: it was just them two, and the new life in her stomach.

"Sasuke-kun?" she looked up at him. There was something new in his eyes; an expression she rarely got to see: hope.

"I'm…going to be a dad?" he croaked. Her smile only got bigger and she nodded. His heart started beating faster. He never thought this day would ever come. His palms started to sweat. There was going to be another girl (or boy) in his life that he was going to love. He hadn't even met them yet and he was already really nervous.

She was babbling on again, this time about what to name it if it was a boy, and how cool it would be to have their child be best friends with Naruto's. Her voice brought a smile to his face. She was so cute. He looked at her lovingly, and then down to her belly.

He stood up from his seat and helped her up, pulling her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Sakura." He took in her scent. They were well aware that people were beginning to stare. He didn't care. "I promise," he whispered "to keep you both safe."

Sakura smiled. "I know you will."

It was finally happening. His own family, a fresh start with the only one he could ever bring himself to love. He seemed to forget about everything else in his life: right now it was just the thought of them starting a family soon and finally getting their happy ending.

Then she started giggling. She looked at the page he left open on the table.

"Ten signs you're in love?" she hadn't looked this amused in a long time. "Is that what you were reading earlier? I didn't know you loved me _that_ much, Sasuke- _kun_." She emphasized the suffix attached to his name.

He poked her forehead and blushed, "Stop it."


End file.
